On the Inherent Incompleteness of Scientific Theories

Mathen, Jolly

doi:10.1007/bf03379933

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 134 publications

(101 reference statements)

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“…Gödel, Popper etc.) [18]. Many other data sets, and improving/improved data quality, could increase the utility, accuracy and actionability of this modelling approach.…”

Section: Implications and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographies of Ageing: A Visuospatial Approach to Demographic Change in Australia

Robertson¹,

Nicholas²

2021

Demographic Analysis - Selected Concepts, Tools, and Applications

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The global phenomenon of population ageing is both complex and multi-layered. We know at a global level that different countries are progressing towards becoming aged societies at different rates. We know that within national borders some regions, mainly rural, are affected by ageing more than others. We also know the health and social care systems struggle to respond effectively to ageing because it is complex and, often, runs counter to the structural design of healthcare systems with their emphasis on clinical and organ-specific problems. Ageing challenges these conventional approaches and is compounded by the prevalence of wide-spread ageism at the societal and systemic levels. Therefore, if we are to adapt to population ageing and care for older people effectively, we need to better understand them and their situational contexts. This includes where they live and how their social, biological and clinical trajectories are progressing. Synthesising this kind of multi-layered information also presents challenges because many health and social care systems operate in silos, with limited information exchanges and limited service coordination. One strategy is the concept of a visuospatial data-informed approach. Here we present a conceptual basis for this approach drawn from our work in the Australian health and ageing contexts.

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“…Gödel, Popper etc.) [18]. Many other data sets, and improving/improved data quality, could increase the utility, accuracy and actionability of this modelling approach.…”

Section: Implications and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographies of Ageing: A Visuospatial Approach to Demographic Change in Australia

Robertson¹,

Nicholas²

2021

Demographic Analysis - Selected Concepts, Tools, and Applications

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“…Recognizing and considering them as incomprehensible has made the theory of electromagnetism possible. We will not address the aspect of incompleteness of scientific theories (see, for example, [50]), which refer to the incompleteness of mathematics, as introduced above.…”

Section: Incomprehensibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

On Theoretical Incomprehensibility

Minati¹

2019

Philosophies

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This contribution tentatively outlines the presumed conceptual duality between the issues of incompleteness and incomprehensibility—The first being more formal in nature and able to be declined in various ways until specified in the literature as theoretical incompleteness. This is theoretical and not temporary, which is admissible and the completion prosecutable. As considered in the literature, theoretical incompleteness refers to uncertainty principles in physics, incompleteness in mathematics, oracles for the Turing Machine, logical openness as the multiplicity of models focusing on coherence more than the optimum selections, fuzziness, quasiness, e.g., quasi-crystals, quasi-systems, and quasi-periodicity, which are intended as the space of equivalences that allow for coherent processes of emergence. The issue of incomprehensibility cannot be considered without reference to an agent endowed with cognitive abilities. In this article, we consider incomprehensibility as understood here as not generally scientifically explicable, i.e., with the available knowledge, as such incomprehensibility may be temporary, pending theoretical and technological advances, or deemed to be absolute as coincident with eventual definitive, theoretical non-explicability, and incomprehensibility. We considered the theoretically incomprehensibility mostly in three main ways: as the inexhaustibility of the multiplicity of constructivist reality as given by the theoretically incomprehensible endless loop of incomprehensible–comprehensible, and by existential questions. Moreover, theoretical incomprehensibility is intended as evidence of the logical openness of both the world and of understanding itself. The role of theoretical incomprehensibility is intended as a source of theoretical research issues such as paradoxes and paradigm shifts, where it is a matter of having cognitive strategies and approaches to look for, cohabit, combine, and use comprehensibility and (theoretical) incomprehensibility. The usefulness of imaginary numbers comes to mind. Can we support such research for local, temporary, and theoretical incomprehensibility with suitable approaches such as software tools, for instance, that simulate the logical frameworks of incomprehensibility? Is this a step toward a kind of artificial creativity leading to paradigm shifts? The most significant novelty of the article lies in the focus on the concept of theoretical incomprehensibility and distinguishing it from incomprehensibility and considering different forms of understanding. It is a matter of identifying strategies to act and coexist with the theoretically incomprehensible, to represent and use it, for example when dealing with imaginary numbers and quantum contexts where classical comprehensibility is theoretically impossible. Can we think of forms of non-classical understanding? In this article, these topics are developed in conceptual and philosophical ways.

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