Chapter XVIII: In-Principle And In-Practice | The Philosophy Of Science by Steven Gussman [1st Edition]
“In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.” – Attributed to Albert Einstein I A very important dichotomy that even working scientists frequently mix up is the difference between in-principle and in-practice . In-principle means something is actually , ideally, ontologically the case. For example, in-principle , one can deterministically predict which face a flipped coin or rolled die will land on, every single time. This is because the system is understood: in-principle , if you had perfectly accurate and precise initial condition measurements (such as the object's orientation and the force exerted by the thumb) and applied Newton's kinematic equations, you would get the same (correct) answer every time you performed the calculation. In-practice , however, means that in the real world where y...