The Map and the Flooded Bridge
A rather interesting point about theory and practice was brought up by Dr Gillette during the final ICS 630 class of the semester. The analogy brought up was that of interstate 5 that had a section recently flooded. Maps printed before the flood that showed that the interstate was still connected although in reality it was not. According to Dr Gillette, the map represented the theory while the actual bridge was reality. Hence, he believed that “theory guides practice and practice corrects theory”.
However, I did not agree that the bridge represented practice. Instead, the bridge represented reality and the act of seeing the bridge was practice, as is the act of reading the map. Even so, I do agree that the map represented theory. However, I then erroneously proposed that practice did not correct theory but on further thought I have now concluded that it does.
Now, getting from one city to another on Interstate 5 is practice. The map being the theory guides the practice of getting from one city to another. Of course, if one was to take the fastest route on the map, one is bound to take the interstate and arrive at the flooded portion. At this point, one would know that the theory is wrong in this case, which is not surprising since there is a contradiction to every generality. Since this is the case, a master's job is to resolve the contradiction by changing the map. Therefore, practice does correct theory.
This brings me to another point at which I could and should have added value. As Dr Gillette said, there is no one correct solution, but there is at least one best solution. He proceeded to say that his proposition was not one of relativism because there may be many possible solutions, but a lot of them will be wrong and nowhere close to being a best solution.
In principle, this would be wrong if the map was theory and the bridge was practice. The fact is that the bridge if flooded. Saying otherwise will not change the fact. This is the case in all other circumstances. However, the bridge is not practice. The bridge is the truth, or at least the situation of the flooded bridge is the truth. It is not relative. There is ONE truth. However, the practice is the overcoming of the obstacle of the flooded bridge, and there are many ways to do so. One could get a boat, a helicopter, take a detour, wait for the flood to subside, swim across, etc. Some methods are better than others depending on the situation, but the situation remains the same. Thus, a possible contradiction is resolved.