Formal theory can refer to:
- Another name for a theory which is expressed in formal language.
- An axiomatic system, something representable by symbols and its operators
- Formal theory from political science, the theoretical modeling of social systems based on game theory, dynamical systems theory, among other interdisciplinary fields.
Famous quotes containing the words formal and/or theory:
“True variety is in that plenitude of real and unexpected elements, in the branch charged with blue flowers thrusting itself, against all expectations, from the springtime hedge which seems already too full, while the purely formal imitation of variety ... is but void and uniformity, that is, that which is most opposed to variety....”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)
“The human species, according to the best theory I can form of it, is composed of two distinct races, the men who borrow and the men who lend.”
—Charles Lamb (1775–1834)