Is All Testing Essentially Exploratory In Nature?

Having just been to STARWEST 2009, and actually seeing James Whittaker in person, exploratory testing is naturally on my mind. And today, as I was browsing my favorite testing blogs, I ran across this quote, supposedly from Boris Beizer:

All testing is essentially exploratory in nature.

Makes a great title for this article, and also calls into question of why exploratory testing is a separate test type. I mean, after all, if all testing is essentially exploratory, then should there really be an exploratory test type?

In my quest to shed some light on this subject and find an answer, I dug up some articles from well known testing experts that have shared their opinions on exploratory testing, e.g. Kaner, Bach, Robinson, Bj Rollison, and others. But first stop is Wikipedia:

Exploratory testing is an approach to software testing that is concisely described as simultaneous learning, test design and test execution. Cem Kaner, who coined the term in 1983, now defines exploratory testing as "a style of software testing that emphasizes the personal freedom and responsibility of the individual tester to continually optimize the quality of his/her work by treating test-related learning, test design, test execution, and test result interpretation as mutually supportive activities that run in parallel throughout the project."... Exploratory testing

So naturally, we can't go any further until we hear what Caner has to say:

I coined the phrase "exploratory testing" 24 years ago, to describe a style of skilled work that was common in Silicon Valley. Naturally, the concept
has evolved since then, primarily as a way of focusing on how testers , p y y glearn about the product under test and its risks throughout the product's
lifecycle....A Tutorial in Exploratory Testing

At the risk of starting an argument, I would think that James Bach may want to take some credit in popularizing exploratory testing:

Exploratory software testing is a powerful approach, yet widely misunderstood. In some situations, it can be orders of magnitude more productive than scripted testing. All testers practice some form of exploratory testing, unless they simply don’t create tests at all. Yet few of us study this approach, and it doesn't get much respect in our field. This attitude is beginning to change as companies seek ever more agile and cost effective methods of developing software....Exploratory Testing Explained

Now many of you know Harry Robinson to be an expert on model-based testing and probably have attended one of his presentations at STARTWEST or STAREAST. But did you know he has a fond appreciation for exploratory testing?

The mission of the Lewis and Clark expedition was to explore and map the territory of the Pacific Northwest. William Clark was the chief mapmaker for the expedition. He spent months perfecting his mapmaking skills before the expedition left St. Louis. As it turned out, later explorers and settlers used Clark’s maps for the next thirty years until newer, more detailed maps were drawn up. The mapmaking was an essential part of the trip. It would have made little sense for Lewis and Clark to return home with collections of trinkets and souvenirs of the trip but no map of the territory that would tell others about the land and how to best navigate through it. On the other hand, it would have been equally foolish to send scores of settlers into that unexplored territory -- much better to send a handful of scouts to survey the territory and report back. Think about exploratory and automated testing from this same perspective.... Exploratory Modeling

We certainly can't leave out James Whittaker, who has just released a book on exploratory testing. You can find plenty about this subject in his book, but here's a blog post that revealed a little more about what James thinks:

I just got finished talking (actually the conversation was more like a debate) to a colleague, exploratory testing critic and a charter member of the plan-first-or-don’t-bother-testing-at-all society....explaining exploratory testing

I'm not sure that Bj Rollinson is a big advocate of exploratory testing. I've seen him take some digs at this subject before, but this article clearly shows an internalization of exploratory testing that transcends its most common use:

Much of the information about exploratory testing focuses on testing from an end-user perspective. Pundits of exploratory testing claim the approach is also useful from a white box test design approach, but I have yet to see any practical discussion or examples. But, professional testers use exploratory testing approaches all the time from a white box perspective to explore the code for untested paths. Professional testers learn about areas of the code that are at risk, and reactively design effective tests to evaluate previously untested or under-tested areas of the code.... Exploratory testing inside the box

So what do you think - does exploratory testing warrant all this attention as a separate test type, or, as Beizer says, is all testing exploratory?