author: Mykola Chumak, Vasyl Yefymenko
Urgency of the research. No matter how close a theory may seem to the experiment, its empirical verification always requires the help of some other theories that are included in the design of the scientific instruments included in the experiment, as well as the very way of reading information from them. In other words, in any experimental situation, two sets of theories will be involved: the theory to be tested and a set of fragments of theories that explain the experimental setup.
Target setting. To create a physical theory, a theorist needs to find a set of data, formulas covering their set, a set of formulas covering the data, combine them into a theory, put forward far-reaching hypotheses if they are mainly comparable to empirical data; present a set of special theories (theoretical models); find a general theory, reject several special hypotheses and generalize others; combine the general theory with special assumptions to obtain a theoretical model. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the real problems that are available, to obtain a set of predictions by linking them to real data, to make a number of predictions, to monitor their fulfillment, and to conclude on the value of the premises. If necessary, you can change the latter by discarding uncertain data.
Actual scientific research and issues analysis. If a theory is not related to reality and does not contain any statements about laws, it cannot make predictions. In other words, the combinations of data obtained with the help of scientific theories should be neither arbitrary nor magical. With this restriction, a scientific theory can, of course, be viewed for purely practical purposes as a data factory. A physical theory must have some actual data as input and be able to produce a set of possible data as output in such a way that both input and output are consistent with the assumptions of the theory - laws, relationships, etc.
The research objective. Consider the empirical component of physical theory, the representation of general physical theory and its model.
The statement of basic materials. The article discusses some modern problems of the methodology of the fundamentals of physics, in particular the interdependence of theory and data.
Conclusions. Any scientific theory is a hypothetical and deductive system, i.e., a system based on hypotheses or statements that go beyond observations, i.e., touch on a whole class of facts, not just those that we happen to observe. Furthermore, observability, or rather measurability, depends on theory. Without theory, we would not get much of the most interesting and accurate data. The progress of science lies not in the increasing exclusion of the unobservable, but in their multiplication and scientific application. The unobservables available to research are somehow related to the observed effects and are at least as valuable in revealing the meaning of old unobservables and suggesting new ones as a variable that can be manipulated directly. It is much more valuable than observables that are not processed by theory.
Keywords: physical theory, general physical theory, empirical component of the theory, model of physical theory
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