[Dimensio]

I'm thinkin' that, in this context

theory = theory

And what, exactly, do you think is the meaning of that word? What do you think that the use of the word "theory" implies?

Or, in order for me to fully understand, must I first know what the meaning of "is" is?

No, but it is helpful to understand what "theory" means in the context of science, as too many people seem to think that it implies a status of little more than a guess.

[tx_eggman]

many people seem to think that it implies a status of little more than a guess

I'm not in that camp ... but neither am I in the camp where "theory" (as you call it) is a weighty a word to me as, say,

"Theorem" when used in the context of Bayes Theorem or DeMoivre's Theorem

which are provable and, if relied on, produce repeatable results.

We, as a species, even as far as we have "progressed", are still woefully ignorant of the workings of our universe.

[101st-Eagle]

No, but it is helpful to understand what "theory" means in the context of science, as too many people seem to think that it implies a status of little more than a guess.

And there is another set of people who regard it as "an irrefutable fact, never to be challenged because science says so."