issue184

civilppUID: 2999177

Issue 184
It is a grave mistake to theorize before one has data


I agree with the speaker that one might make wrong theory before he has enough information. However, it is also significant to define and conclude something immediately despite the incomplete information.
I concede that people might make mistakes without incomplete information or comparison. As the development of technology and fast speeding population and new conditions, human beings live in a rapid pace world. Thus conclusions reached at the last second may be overthrown next time.
After all, without enough detailed information related to facts, people might theorize something mere approximation to the standard one, but once its assumption on which it based has slightly changed, the theory will be proved wrong. Heraclitus, a pre-Socrates Greek philosopher, who was famous for his principle of change being vital to the cosmos, theorized the essence of universe to Logos which based on no clear evidence. No one even himself cannot explain it with clear definition so that this theory has long been refuted. What’s more, to theorize before collecting ample data may cause more problems than it solves, since the wrong ground caused by incomplete information on which any new theory or research based may turn out mistaken research in the future, which is a matter of not only wasting money, but also diminishing the speed of development in any fields.
However, if we only theorize something until all the information has been proved or involved, chances are that it is impossible to make theory. Never a person in the history even Socrates can ensure his theory is definitely the highest level of knowledge within his chosen field. Never theorize for fear of incompletion and imperfection may not only impede development of current technology and science, but also harm the next generations. If were not for Wilhelm Wundt, the founder of psychology, who founded the first laboratory of psychology and who established the first psychological theory structuralism which was thwarted by later psychologists, psychology may not be so flourishing and beneficiary to all human beings after several generation’s continuing refuting to each other’s theories.
Though the information and data may be not so precise depending on recent technology and knowledge, we can theorize some of the rules we discover in our present time, so that our off-springs can continue research on it. Our newly-made theory depending on incomplete evidence may turn out proved mistaken to some extent in the future, but the wrong theory can also be a great step in this field. After all, it is truly because of theories, whether proved wrong or right in the later time, made by one generation from one another that the whole fields of human endeavor has continued thriving.
To sum up, the continuing development of society requires theory even it may be wrong to some extent. If the researchers are too scared of the failure and incompletion which may be proved in the future to theorize what they discover at the present time, there may be no basis of further study.