John W Edser wrote:
> Post A36
> 
> 
>> >> BOH:- Statitical expectations _are_ predictions from a testable
>> >> theory of what nature actually is.  At least any quantitative
>> >> prediction will have to allow for uncertainty, statistical error
>> >> etc, and hence the predictions will have to be of the form of
>> >> expectations. The tests of the (quantiative) theory come in the
>> >> form of examination of fit of a model to data (goodness of fit
>> >> statistics, examination of outliers etc.).
> 
> 
>> > JE:- Yes, only a MODEL reality is being entertained and only
>> > verification is being employed to "test" this model
reality. Any
>> > model reality is just an oversimplification of a fully testable (can
>> > be verified or refuted) THEORY of nature.
>> > Do you agree that such a simplified model cannot contest and win
>> > against the theory from which it was derived as just an over
>> > simplification?
> 
> 
>>BOH:-
>>I'm afraid I'm unable to answer that, as I don't share (or understand)
>>your epistemic views on models and theories.
> 
> 
> JE:-
> No problem. Just substitute my "epistemic views on models
> and theories" with your own, or somebody else's.
> 
> Are you arguing  that theories, hypothesis and models are
> all just interchangeable terms for exactly the same thing,
> i.e. they are equivalent terms, or not?
> 
Pretty much - there are nuanced differences between them, but it's not 
clear to me where the lines are.

We're drifting off topic here, from evolution to epistemology.  As you 
claim it doesn't matter what epistemic view to take, I think we should 
close the discussion now, before Josh gets annoyed.

Bob

-- 
Bob O'Hara

Dept. of Mathematics and Statistics
P.O. Box 4 (Yliopistonkatu 5)
FIN-00014 University of Helsinki
Finland
Telephone: +358-9-191 23743
Mobile: +358 50 599 0540
Fax:  +358-9-191 22 779
WWW:  http://www.RNI.Helsinki.FI/~boh/
Journal of Negative Results - EEB: http://www.jnr-eeb.org
---
þ RIMEGate(tm)/RGXPost V1.14 at BBSWORLD * Info{at}bbsworld.com

---
 * RIMEGate(tm)V10.2áÿ* RelayNet(tm) NNTP Gateway * MoonDog BBS
 * RgateImp.MoonDog.BBS at 4/15/04 11:49:27 AM