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[Phys-L] laws versus theories



On 09/16/2012 11:32 AM, Dr. Keith S. Taber wrote:

The interesting question (to my mind) is to what extent this is
influenced by the way we teach or how these terms are used in the
media and the 'lifeworld', and so how we could help learners acquire
a more sophisticated understanding of such term.

This is of more than academic interest when global warning or ozone
depletion (etc) is seen as just a 'just a theory'

It's more than an "interesting" life question. It has much more than
"academic interest". It is a political question, and a moral question.
It is a question of Right versus Wrong.

Laws are ordained by God. They are Right. The idea that something
called a law could be less than perfect in such-and-such situation,
or that something called a theory could be valid in another situation
... that only makes sense to people who cannot tell Right from Wrong,
such as scientists, flag-burners, and people who want to marry their
dogs.

Nuance is for wimps. The Manicheans died out because they were too
wishy-washy. If schools fail to teach your children to categorize
everything (including laws and theories) as either Right or Wrong,
your children are going to burn in hell forever.

When the Right party proposed cap-and-trade, it was a market-oriented
free-enterprise solution to an important problem. When the Wrong
party embraced the idea, it was then considered treason and a non-
solution to an imaginary problem. Similarly, when the Right party
proposed the individual mandate, it was considered a market-oriented
free-enterprise solution to the free-rider problem ... far superior
to the single-payer solution we see in communist fascist countries
like Canada, Britain, Australia, et cetera. When the Wrong party
embraced the individual mandate, it was then considered treasonous
death panels. So the point is, policy isn't important. Policies
come and policies go. The important thing is to believe what you
are told to believe, and believe it 100%. That's the only way to
separate laws from theories ... and to separate Right from Wrong.