All 3 Uses of
hypothesis
in
Into the Wild
- In a letter to a friend he wrote, "I began my adult life with the hypothesis that it would be possible to become a Stone Age native."
p. 75..2hypothesis = reasonable idea
- Rosellini appeared to accept the failure of his hypothesis with equanimity.
p. 75..4hypothesis = unproven idea
- ["short man's complex" or "unresolved Oedipal conflict"] Although there may be some truth in both hypotheses, this sort of posthumous off-the-rack psychoanalysis is a dubious, highly speculative enterprise that inevitably demeans and trivializes the absent analysand.
p. 184..8 *hypotheses = ideas that are seemingly reasonable, but unproveneditor's notes: An analysand is a person being psychoanalyzed. Posthumous means after death and in this context dubious means doubtful in the sense of "doubting that they are completely true in this instance."
Definition:
-
(hypothesis as in: a study to test her hypothesis) a seemingly reasonable, but unproven idea or explanation based upon known factseditor's notes: In casual conversation, theory is a synonym for hypothesis, but a scientist would say that a hypothesis needs to pass rigorous tests before it could be accepted as a theory.