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submitted 1 year ago by grte@lemmy.ca to c/canada@lemmy.ca
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[-] Wereduck@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 year ago

Gravity (phenomenon) is neither a theory nor law, in a similar way that a cat is different from a picture of a cat or a dictionary entry describing the word cat or our collective understand of what a cat is. At the same time, gravity is also BOTH a theory and a set of laws in the same sense that you could point to a picture of a cat and say "that's a cat right there", and no one would correct you. The distinction seems silly, but it is important. Theory, law, etc are structures/lenses through which we understand and predict things. A sort of formalized collective metacognition is the basis of science, and this is why we have these terms and distinctions. And theories and laws are fundementally different things in a way that's may be best expanded by critically reading the resources provided by the other commenter.

this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2023
343 points (96.5% liked)

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