Quote:
Originally Posted by sjastro
A theory or paradigm that is challenged is perceived as "unhealthy" in the first place otherwise why challenge it.
Einstein is a case in point. He didn't wake up one day and decided to overturn Newtonian physics "because it was there", he took it on board as observation saw an impasse between Newtonian physics and electrodynamics.
And what he ultimately did was to show that Newtonian physics wasn't incorrect but extended it in the form of SR and GR theories.
GR will go the same way in the form of a Unified Field Theory  .
Steven |
A theory maybe healthy, but is it fit??. No theory has everything 100% correct or, indeed, in it's favour. That's why Einstein challenged accepted Newtonian notions, then created a new paradigm on top of the old one...extending it to the new theory. GR and SR are in the same box as Newton...they are being challenged, stretched and maybe broken, but they are still parts of a larger jigsaw puzzle. They may be just put back in places we haven't heard of, yet
However, in some cases, no matter how healthy an old paradigm appears to be, it may still need replacing by a new one, when newer knowledge presents itself.