Yes. If you were a "good" scientist during the time of Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), your job was to theorize, or think hard and imagine, about how things ought to work. And, because the Catholic Church dominated European thought, politics, and culture at the time, your thoughts must also be consistent with what the Church believed to be true, as well as with the theories of previous scientists whom the Church approved of.

Do you suppose things always work the way you think they ought to? Did Galileo try to imagine how the stars and planets worked, or did he observe and experiment?