Wednesday, 26 October 2022

Stop saying theory

Stop calling bad and unfalsifiable ideas 'theories'.

Please use the word theory only for scientifically validated ideas.

Words to use in place of 'theory':

approach, argument, assumption, concept, conjecture, doctrine, dogma, feeling, formularization, guess, guesswork, hunch, idea, ideology, impression, outlook, position, postulate, premise, presumption, proposal, provision, rationale, scheme, shot, speculation, supposition, surmise, system, thesis, understanding

If it's an idea in social theory, call it an ideology. That will really wind up academics who claim to be doing 'theory'. If it's an idea in science call it a conjecture.

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