You’re right that I’m making assumptions about insights which not always be applicable. And I don’t mean to claim that theory isn’t useful. This post is partially also for me to push back against some default theorizing that happens.
I think that sometimes the right thing to do is to focus on just “reporting the data”, so to speak, if we use an analogy from research papers. There are experimental papers which might do some speculation, but their focus is on the results. Then there are also papers which try to do more theorizing and synthesis.
I guess I’m trying to discourage what I see as experimental papers focusing too much on the theorizing aspect.
Ultimate understanding requires a constructive theory, but often, says Einstein, progress in theory is impeded by premature attempts at developing constructive theories in the absence of sufficient constraints by means of which to narrow the range of possible constructive theories. It is the function of principle theories to provide such constraint, and progress is often best achieved by focusing first on the establishment of such principles.
You’re right that I’m making assumptions about insights which not always be applicable. And I don’t mean to claim that theory isn’t useful. This post is partially also for me to push back against some default theorizing that happens.
I think that sometimes the right thing to do is to focus on just “reporting the data”, so to speak, if we use an analogy from research papers. There are experimental papers which might do some speculation, but their focus is on the results. Then there are also papers which try to do more theorizing and synthesis.
I guess I’m trying to discourage what I see as experimental papers focusing too much on the theorizing aspect.
So, it’s a lack of balance, and basically this:?
That seems reasonable, yeah.