Terms like “theoretically” or “in theory” are over used, and often used inappropriately Most of the time, the term “hypothetically” is a more appropriate term for what they mean. For example, people say things like “I have a theory that…”, when it would be more appropriate to say “I have a hypothesis that…”
My question is, when is it *actually* appropriate to use a phrase like “in theory” or “theoretically”? Please give an example when you answer.
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I’d argue that it’s appropriate in most of the cases where it gets used. “Theory” has a colloquial meaning outside of specifically scientific contexts, and the usage of “theoretically” is consistent with that: basically any time you’re trying to convey that something appears to be true based on logic or other principles but hasn’t necessarily been shown in actual practice.
If you’re using it *specifically* in the context of a scientific conversation, maybe constrain it to references to actual, specific theories. “Theoretically [according to Quantum Field Theory], all particles have associated fields.” Outside of an explicitly scientific conversation, go ham.
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