On 10/05/2016 06:37 AM, xorcist@sigaint.org wrote:
"'conjecture' or 'hypothesis', both of which connote apparently true but not self-evident statements."
That's what you get for using dictionaries.
English language dictionaries also conflate "Want" with "Need".
Apparently that 'disease... that dumbing down of the English language, has spread to technical dictionaries as well. No wonder modern industrial output is half-baked shiny-and-soon-to-the-trashheap junk.
Conjecture or Hypothesis ALWAY MEANT the person making the statement believes it so. "Conjecture" is quaintly referred to on the intertubz as "IMHO". Hypothesis would have SOME facts to back it... Usually single-sided to suit the hypothesizer] awaiting it's 'graduation' to 'theory, where it's tested against other facts.
Please re-read the definitions. Yes, the person making the statement believes it to be true (i.e. apparently true, but not self-evident). One makes a hypothesis, and then tests it by experiment in order to establish it - but it is not self-evident. And note that the word 'connote' is in there, as well.