>>You must admit, though, that scientists use the language of metaphysical certainty to express results. At best, it is “the best guess we can come up with so far.”<<
Yes. That is particularly true of people who have not had a super high level of science education and/or are insecure about their own knowledge.
A perfect example would be the equation F=ma (force = mass * acceleration). You’ll see that presented as a fact but its only true if the mass doesn’t change (i.e. it doesn’t work for rockets) so there is a more complex form. And the more complex form is only approximately true because it doesn’t take relativity into consideration. But does a 6th grade science teacher know that, maybe and maybe not.
It’s worse. Rockets are just calculus. To use the inaccurate language of physics, you just have an element of mass and integrate. I.e., dF=a*dm.
Newton was wrong.
He didn’t account for relativistic effects. Now, a physicist would say that it’s such a minor effect that it doesn’t matter, but if you want to use the language of mathematics, you have to have the standards of mathematics.
The physicists know the difference, but I shudder at the softer scientists who say “this evidence proves...”.