首页
登录
职称英语
Any physical theory is always provisional, in the sense that it is only a hyp
Any physical theory is always provisional, in the sense that it is only a hyp
游客
2023-12-17
26
管理
问题
Any physical theory is always provisional, in the sense that it is only a hypothesis: you can never prove it. No matter how many times the results of experiments agree with some theory, you can never be sure that the next time the result will not contradict the theory. On the other hand, you can disprove a theory by finding even a single observation that disagrees with the predictions of the theory. As philosopher of science, Karl Popper has emphasized a good theory is characterized by the fact that it makes a number of predictions that could in principle be disproved or falsified by observation. Each time new experiments are observed to agree with the predictions the theory survives, and our confidence in it is increased; but if ever a new observation is found to disagree, we have to abandon or modify the theory. At least that is what is supposed to happen, but you can always question the competence of the person who carried out the observation.
In practice, what often happens is that a new theory is devised that is really an extension of the previous theory. For example, very accurate observations of the planet Mercury revealed a small difference between its motion and the predictions of Newton’s theory of gravity. Einstein’s general theory of relativity predicted a slightly different motion from Newton’s theory. The fact that Einstein’s predictions matched what was seen, while Newton’s did not, was one of the crucial confirmations of the new theory. However, we still use Newton’s theory for all practical purposes because the difference between its predictions and those of general relativity is very small in the situations that we normally deal with. (Newton’s theory also. has the great advantage that it is much simpler to work with than Einstein’s ! )
It turns out to be very difficult to devise a theory to describe the universe all in one go. Instead, we break the problem up into bits and invent a number of partial theories. Each of these partial theories describes and predicts a certain limited class of observations, neglecting the effects of other quantities, or representing them by simple sets of numbers. It may be that this approach is completely wrong. If everything in the universe depends on everything else in a fundamental way, it might be impossible to get close to a full solution by investigating parts of the problem in isolation. Nevertheless, it is certainly the way that we have made progress in the past. The classic example again is the Newtonian theory of gravity, which tells us that the gravitational force between two bodies depends only on one number associated with each body, its mass, but is otherwise independent of what the bodies are made of. Thus one does not need to have a theory of the structure and constitution of the sun and the planets in order to calculate their orbits:
Today scientists describe the universe in terms of two basic partial theories-the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. They are the great intellectual achievements of the first half of this century. Unfortunately, however, these two theories are known to be inconsistent with each other-they cannot both be correct. One of the major endeavours in physics today, is the search for a new theory that will incorporate them both-a quantum theory of gravity. We do not yet have such a theory, and we may still be long way from having one, but we do already know many of the properties that it must have. [br] According to the passage, why can’t any physical theory be permanently established?
选项
A、Such a theory is only suggested as a possible way of explaining an idea.
B、The person proposing such a theory may be incompetent.
C、Observations always disagree with predictions.
D、Observations are always falsified by predictions.
答案
A
解析
本文第一段第一句就指出,任何物理理论总是暂时性的,因为它只是一种无法得到证实的假设。而hypothesis的意思就是a possible way of explaining an idea。因此选A。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3280854.html
相关试题推荐
1 "Itisalwaysconsolingtothinkofsuicide,"theGermanphilosopherFriedric
1 "Itisalwaysconsolingtothinkofsuicide,"theGermanphilosopherFriedric
1 Scholarsandstudentshavealwaysbeengreattravelers.Theofficialcasefor
1 Scholarsandstudentshavealwaysbeengreattravelers.Theofficialcasefor
1 Scholarsandstudentshavealwaysbeengreattravelers.Theofficialcasefor
Inadditiontohistheoryofcolor,Newtondevelopedatheoryofhowlighttr
Inadditiontohistheoryofcolor,Newtondevelopedatheoryofhowlighttr
TheLandofDisneyPredictingthefutureisalwaysris
Materialculturereferstothetouchable,material"things"--physicalobjects
Materialculturereferstothetouchable,material"things"--physicalobjects
随机试题
Onesummerdaymyfathersentmetobuywireforourfarm.At16,Iliked【C1
Hewasfoundtherightmanforthejob.Theunderlinedpartfunctionsasa(n)__
决定一种商品供给的主要因素有()。A、生产技术水平B、生产成本C、相关商品的价格水平D、该种商品的价格A,B,C,D决定一种商品供给的主要因素有
班组检查属于安全检查中的()。A.日常检查 B.定期检查 C.季节性检查
患者外阴痒1周,查阴道黏膜覆以膜状物,擦除后露出红肿黏膜面。正确的处理应是 ?
计划经济体制下,城镇住房制度的特点有()。A.国家统包 B.无偿分配
职能制组织结构的缺点不包括( )。A.多头领导,政出多门 B.降低了企业管理
附加刑是补充主刑适用的刑罚方法。下列各项中,属于附加刑的是()。A.罚款 B
主要用于控制疟疾症状的药物是A.伯氨喹 B.乙胺嘧啶 C.SMP D.氯喹
腹部手术切口感染,错误的处理是( )。A.拆除缝线,敞开切口 B.局部理疗
最新回复
(
0
)