The tradition of theoretical science
Feb. 21st, 2026 03:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chaourceImagine a dispute in a classroom where learned scholars disagree about some theoretical problem. What and how are they doing to resolve their dispute? When do they all agree that a certain aspect of the problem has been resolved?
What I'm thinking about is that a theoretical disagreement can be productively discussed and resolved only within the framework of a certain tradition. The tradition dictates what questions are to be discussed and how to decide whether a question is resolved. It is not possible to "just use logic" or "just derive the answer" even when the theory under discussion is formal and mathematical. One needs to be guided by unwritten tradition, which is transmitted from teacher to student.
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What I'm thinking about is that a theoretical disagreement can be productively discussed and resolved only within the framework of a certain tradition. The tradition dictates what questions are to be discussed and how to decide whether a question is resolved. It is not possible to "just use logic" or "just derive the answer" even when the theory under discussion is formal and mathematical. One needs to be guided by unwritten tradition, which is transmitted from teacher to student.
( Read more... )
