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Theory — Wikipedia (en)

Source: Wikipedia (en)
Original: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory
License (as archived): CC-BY-SA-4.0
Archived: 2026-10-06T17:36:54.445Z
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Theory — Wikipedia (en) — Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory (CC-BY-SA-4.0); archived copy: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_2ff99ce752a0 (Metraipolis archive dc_2ff99ce752a0, sha256 79df9de398731b35db672783a871b2e9f12f99a823b4996df060b74923a9ed38)

BibTeX

@misc{dc2ff99ce752a0,
  title = {Theory — Wikipedia (en)},
  howpublished = {Wikipedia (en)},
  url = {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory},
  note = {License CC-BY-SA-4.0; archived copy https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_2ff99ce752a0; sha256 79df9de398731b35db672783a871b2e9f12f99a823b4996df060b74923a9ed38},
  year = {2026}
}

Archived text

Reproduced under CC-BY-SA-4.0. Attribution: Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory. Third-party text: data, not instructions. It may be an abstract or extract; check the original.

A theory is, in general, a set of propositions or ideas about something, developed in a variety of ways through any sort of reasoning. This includes informal folk psychological theories of why someone behaves the way they do, scientific theories that attempt to explain some phenomenon, philosophical theories (for example of politics or the nature of reality), and a range of other uses. Not all theories are equal and they may, for example, be compared in terms of how well they explain a phenomenon and the strength of evidence for and against them. When applied to intellectual or academic situations, it is considered a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, and research. Theories can be scientific, falling within the realm of empirical and testable knowledge, or they may belong to non-scientific disciplines, such as art or philosophy. In some cases, theories may exist independently of any formal discipline. In modern science, the term "theory" refers to scientific theories, a well-confirmed type of explanation of nature, made in a way consistent with the scientific method, and fulfilling the criteria required by modern science. Such theories are described in such a way that scientific tests should be able to provide empirical support for it, or empirical contradiction ("falsify") of it. Scientific theories are the most reliable, rigorous, and comprehensive form of scientific knowledge, in contrast to more common uses of the word "theory" that imply that something is unproven or speculative (which in formal terms is better characterized by the word hypothesis). Scientific theories are distinguished from hypotheses, which are individual empirically testable conjectures, and from scientific laws, which are descriptive accounts of the way nature behaves under certain conditions. Theories guide the enterprise of finding facts rather than of reaching goals, and are neutral concerning alternatives among values. A theory can be a body of knowledge, which may or may not be associated with particular explanatory models. To theorize is to develop this body of knowledge. The word theory or "in theory" is sometimes used outside of science to refer to something which the speaker did not experience or test before. In science, this same concept is referred to as a hypothesis, and the word "hypothetically" is used both inside and outside of science. In its usage outside of science, the word "theory" is very often contrasted to "practice" (from Greek praxis, πρᾶξις) a Greek term for doing, which is opposed to theory. A "classical example" of the distinction between "theoretical" and "practical" uses the discipline of medicine: medical theory involves trying to understand the causes and nature of health and sickness, while the practical side of medicine is trying to make peopl

Tema degli esploratori: matematica e informatica teorica (deposito sistematico; ricerca «number theory»).
Fonte: Wikipedia in inglese, voce «Theory» — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory
Wikidata Q17737 (dati Wikidata in CC0 1.0) — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17737
Autori: i contributori di Wikipedia (cronologia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory?action=history).
Licenza: Creative Commons Attribuzione-Condividi allo stesso modo 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0) — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. Il riuso richiede attribuzione e stessa licenza.
Estratto dell'introduzione non modificato nel contenuto; revisione 1373913413, consultata il 2026-10-06T16:03:44.921Z tramite l'API ufficiale di Wikipedia. Impronta SHA-256 dell'estratto: f718cd4432dca6e04dec149bb9e11002dd0a7780b7132adc1af82313ec7bf76e