Part I    Introduction6
fei75766_ch01_001-018.indd 6  02/06/20 10:41 AMthinking andreasoning. Philosophers arenotscientists; theydonotordinarily con-
ductcontrolled studies intheirpursuit ofwisdom. Philosophy encompasses several 
branches, oneofwhich isepistemology, orthenature ofknowledge. Theory relates 
most closely tothisbranch ofphilosophy, because itisatoolusedbyscientists in
theirpursuit ofknowledge.
Theories donotdealwith“oughts” and“shoulds.” Therefore, asetofprin-
ciples about howoneshould liveone’s lifecannot beatheory. Such principles involve 
values andaretheproper concern ofphilosophy. Although theories arenotfreeof
values, theyarebuiltonscientific evidence thathasbeen obtained inarelatively unbi-
asedfashion. Thus, there arenotheories onwhysociety should helphomeless people 
oronwhat constitutes great art.
Philosophy deals withwhat ought tobeorwhat should be;theory doesnot.
Theory deals withbroad setsofif-then statements, butthegoodness orbadness ofthe
outcomes ofthese statements isbeyond therealm oftheory. Forexample, atheory 
might tellusthatifchildren arebrought upinisolation, completely separated from 
human contact, thentheywillnotdevelop human language, exhibit parenting behav -
ior,andsoon.Butthisstatement saysnothing about themorality ofsuchamethod 
ofchild rearing.
Speculation
Second, theories relyonspeculation, buttheyaremuch more thanmere armchair 
speculation. They donotflowforth from themind ofagreat thinker isolated from 
empirical observations. They areclosely tiedtoempirically gathered dataandto
science.
What istherelationship between theory andscience? Science isabranch of
study concerned withtheobservation andclassification ofdataandwiththeverifi -
cation ofgeneral lawsthrough thetesting ofhypotheses. Theories areuseful tools 
employed byscientists togivemeaning andorganization totheirobservations. In
addition, theories provide afertile ground forproducing testable hypotheses. Without 
some kindoftheory toholdobservations together andtopoint todirections ofpos-
sibleresearch, science would begreatly handicapped.
Theories arenotuseless fantasies fabricated byimpractical scholars whoare
fearful ofsoiling their hands inthemachinery ofscientific investigation. Infact,
theories themselves arequite practical andareessential fortheadvancement of
anyscience. Speculation andempirical observations arethetwoessential corner -
stones oftheory building, butspeculation must notrunrampantly inadvance of
controlled observation.
Hypothesis
Although theory isanarrower concept thanphilosophy, itisabroader termthan
hypothesis. Agood theory iscapable ofgenerating many hypotheses. Ahypothesis is
aneducated guess orprediction specific enough foritsvalidity tobetested through the
useofthescientific method. Atheory istoogeneral tolenditselftodirect verification, 
butasingle comprehensive theory iscapable ofgenerating thousands ofhypotheses. 
Hypotheses, then, aremore specific thanthetheories thatgivebirth tothem. The
offspring, however, should notbeconfused withtheparent.Final PDF to printer