What does this quote mean “A theory is no more like a fact than a photograph is like a person”?
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That means whoever said it doesn’t understand what “theory” means. When a scientist uses the word “theory” he doesn’t mean “wild guess” or “vague hunch”. A scientific theory is rigourously and thoroughly tested and found to be able to make reliable and accurate predictions about the world. The theory of gravity allows us to make highly accurate predictions about complex gravity-based systems like satellite orbits, solar systems, and galaxies months, years, even *centuries* ahead.
Well, a theory isn’t really a fact. It represents a potential solution to a question or problem. In a way a theory therefore may represent a fact. If you consider a solution to a problem a fact.
A picture represents a person or, more correctly, the image of a person.
So a picture and a theory are representations of something else. In that way they are similar.
Ok so in the common language, the word theory is often misinterpreted.
A hypothesis is an untested proposition of an answer to a question. Once it is tested and revealed to indeed be true, it becomes a theory.
Oftentimes when people refer to a scientific theory, they interpret theory as hypothesis. A theory has been thoroughly put to the test and validated. It becomes like a lens through which one views reality.
Say we all start out as thoroughly near sighted. We formulate a hypothesis: “we are near sighted”. We put it to the test by holding up various lenses in front of our eyes, and one of them makes the world appear clearer to us. That lens becomes a hypothesis that we can use to view the world through and refine the hypothesis.
We can now venture further and formulate a new hypothesis: “we are near sighted between x and y %” (not how you measure sight, just simplified for the sake of the argument”. By testing the new hypothesis we figure out that we need a slightly different lens to make the image even more clear and we can see more details of the world around us (the facts).
To get back to your analogy with a photograph. It refers to the fact that theories aren’t perfect. They are the best explanation for a phenomenon that we can put together at a certain time. Just like a photograph is the best representation of an object that we can generate at a certain time. But there may be hidden details that we fail to see still.
(For the sake of rounding up the argument: a law is a way of formulating a fact without explaining *why* things happen a certain way. A hypothesis is an attempt to explain why, and once a hypothesis is tested and verified it becomes a theory. Theories can always be refined)
Here’s what I think. A theory is like a photo in that when you see a photo, you immediately begin to form an impression – a theory – about what that person is like, even though (perhaps) you’ve never met them. Just as the person can turn out to be completely different than your theory, so too can facts prove or disprove a theory. In other words, a theory is a hypothesis, subject to modification or abandonment at any time new facts so indicate.
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