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Re: What are "principles" in science?



On Monday, Jun 7, 2004, at 20:00 America/New_York, Jack Uretsky wrote:

Hi all-
I don't know anybody involved in the active pursuit of physics,
biology, chemistry or the like who would support this so-called
"traditional picture". Do you have some support for your
characterization? And why is it important to have such categories?

Feynman (III-13-1), in describing the conduction of electrons in
chrystals, writes: "The laws of give the followwing results." He then
describes the result of a calculation.

Would tthe meeaning be any less clear if he had said "the principles of
quantum mechanics', or "the theory of quantum mechanics", or "a quantum
mechanical calculation"? I note that he does not discuss such
categories
anywhere in his lectures.

I have noted that beginning elementary and high school teachers, when
unsure of their subject matter, tend to emphasize names and
definitions.
I think that i9 because the leaqrning of names and definitions is the
easiest kind of teaching that can be readily measured. Standardized
tests
are easy to construct for such purposes.

I suggest that the best answer to the question that starte this thread
is: "Call it what you want; a rose by any other name sould smell as
sweet." On second thought, I would not compare the quotation under
discussion with "a rose."
Regards,
Jack

Does that mean that the quoted principle
(see below) is wrong?
Does it mean it will create some student
misconceptions?
The principle was quoted from the first chapter
of a high school chemistry textbook.
Ludwik Kowalski

"A PRINCIPLE TO REMEMBER. In a chemical
change the atoms in substances are rearranged
to make one or more new substances. The result
is a change in composition."