[aruanan]

2. Prediction from scientific theory: I calculate there will be a partial solar eclipse this week.

Solar eclipses are predicted on the basis of observation of regularities.

5. Prediction from scientific theory: I calculate there will be a partial solar eclipse this week. I am not aware of any scientific theory that I understand which has failed in a major way.

The phlogiston theory of heat and all the others that litter the road of science. Of course, those given to scientism exclude those as not being science.

[AntiGuv]

The phlogiston theory of heat and all the others that litter the road of science.

Unsurprisingly invented by a minister, based on principles of alchemy, and popularized by an animistic physician...

[chronic_loser]

I am not aware of any scientific theory that I understand which has failed in a major way. >>>>

Although I am not sure what you mean by "in a major way" I am sure you would have to admit all of Newtonian Physics have "failed" when you move down to a subatomic level.

Newton and the "macro" world of physics just "feels" right to our perceptions and it is quite interesting to watch the physicists who play with these worlds insist that there will be a unified theory. The reason why this is interesting is that at present there is NO such coherent theory. Scientists posit that there must be such a theory with the same degree of faith that his quasi literate janitor recites the Lord's Prayer. The reason is that they WANT such a connection to exist. Without it, the universe is random and science ceases to exist.

I am with them that such a unified theory awaits discovery. What is fascinating is that this same person will mock the faith of others, say it belongs in a church and not a classroom, while predicating his whole scientific and academic career on a faith that differs not one whit from the fundamentalist he despises. That faith simply has another object.

[js1138]

Solar eclipses are predicted on the basis of observation of regularities.

Plus a theory of why those regularities occur. It just so happens it doesn't matter whether your visualization is geocentric or heliocentric, but you can't easily find the regularities without a visualization.

[Right Wing Professor]

Solar eclipses are predicted on the basis of observation of regularities.

No. Solar eclipses are predicted from a dynamical model of the solar system that extrapolates from the configuration of planetary bodies at present, Newton's laws of motion, and the law of universal gravitation. For solar eclipses (unlike lunar eclipses) the necessary alignment is too precise to expect to see simple regularities, and we don't. We need a fundamental understanding to make the predictions work.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for sharing your insight! Would you care to list the "types" according to you and value them? For instance, the scientific prediction "type" is valued in one instance as #2 and in the other #5.