Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:31 pmtillingborn wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:15 pmMy argument is that there is no reasonable doubt that gravity exists.
"You don't know what gravity is."
Gravity is the force that acts between massive bodies in my book.
"You know that something exists."
Yes. I know that a force that acts between bodies exists.
"You know what that something seems to do."
General Relativity is extremely accurate, so we know very nearly exactly what gravity does.
"You know we have consented to label it "gravity.""
True.
"But you haven't the foggiest idea what it really is."
It really is the force that acts between massive bodies.
"There is more that a reasonable doubt that you know what it is you're trying to identify...in fact, you admit yourself that you don't know what it is."
I know precisely what gravity is. It is the force that acts between massive bodies that we have consented to label "gravity".
Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:31 pmI'd say that even by your definition, that's a "theory."
It isn't. By my definition, it is the hypotheses that attempt to explain the cause of gravity that are theoretical. You a free to disagree with my definition of theory on aesthetic grounds; or you might not like my reasoning, but if you have nothing against bog standard informal logic, the argument is valid.