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Contents

1 The scientific method 1.1 Observation 1.2 Hypothesis 1.3 Prediction 1.4 Experiment 1.5 Evaluation 2 Departures from method 3 Annotated list of related issues 4 What made the scientific method succeed? 5 Why didn't the scientific method arise elsewhere? 6 Relationship to techology 7 See also

The scientific method

Roger Bacon -- thirteenth century --Francis Bacon's New Organon

interpretations of the scientific method -- science -- philosophy of science-- history of science -- sociology of knowledge -- process --knowledge

Observation

-- methods -- causation -- investigation --

measurement -- solar day vs sidereal day. mass vs weight

Hypothesis

Use Occam's Razor to prune the list of hypothetical explanations of the observation.-- pro:Karl Popper Falsifiability -- con:Paul Feyerabend -- statistical hypothesis testing

Prediction

A prediction is a logical inference from the hypothesis -- Bayesian inference is subjective use of statistical reasoning -- Deductive reasoning

Experiment

Feynman: "We can do anything we want (in theorizing). Then all we have to do is check with the experiment." Design of experiments -- placebo effect --

Evaluation

Test of the inference: prediction and experimentation to establish new facts. Critical examination of the hypothetical explantion: peer review by community of scholars, using Logic etc. The wave theory of light overturned by photoelectric effect. Peer review unused for cold fusion.

Departures from method

Michael Polanyi elegant beautiful Occam's Razor.

Ptolemaic system Nicolaus Copernicus Tycho Brahe Kepler Isaac Newton Galileo model

Annotated list of related issues

Empirical methods

• Empiricism
• Roger Bacon
• Francis Bacon
• Baconian method
• Empirical validation
• Operationalization

Paradigm change

• Paradigm, the most unpopular word in English.
• Thomas Kuhn started a new paradigm by telling us about paradigms.
• The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is Kuhn's book.
• Paradigm shift.

The problem of induction questions the logical basis of scientific statements.

• Inductive reasoning appears to lie at the core of scientific method, yet also appears to be invalid.
• David Hume was the person who first pointed out the problem of induction.
• Karl Popper offered one solution, Falsifiability

Scientific creativity

• Linus Pauling "How do I do it? I have a lot of ideas, and throw out the bad ones".
• Isaac Newton's moon and apple.
• Kekule's benzene-ring.
• Michael Polanyi
• Tacit knowledge

When method goes wrong

• Bad science
• Junk science
• Pseudoscience
• pathological science

Critique of scientific method

• Paul Feyerabend argued that the search for a definitive scientific method was misplaced, and even counterproductive.
• Imre Lakatos attempted to bridge the gap between Popper and Kuhn.
• Sociology of Scientific Knowledge
• Scientism

Use of statistics

• Uncomfortable science, due to statistician John Tukey: Inference from a limited sample of data, where further samples influenced by the same cause system, a finite natural phenomenon for which it is difficult to overcome the problem of using a common sample of data for both exploratory data analysis and confirmatory data analysis. Statistical bias through testing hypotheses suggested by the data. Prediction interval.

What made the scientific method succeed?

• Political factors
• Economic factors
• Other factors
  • Protection of the community of scientists who fostered the discoveries
    • The reformation, seizure of the orders led to secular communities of scholars
    • Britain was an island nation

Why didn't the scientific method arise elsewhere?

• Greece
• Indic civilization
• Islamic civilization
• China
• Africa
• America, North / South

Relationship to techology

Technology is subordinate to Science; Scientific discovery rests on technology.

See also

• Bayesian logic -- Quasi-empirical methods -- Foundation ontology -- Ontology -- Philosophy of mathematics -- mathematics --

Epistemology

• Post-processualism is a methodological curiosity from Archaeology.
• Structuralism -- post-structuralism -- deconstruction-- post-modernism -- Latour, Bruno -- Secularism --

physical law -- Science policy -- Scientific Revolution -- Sociology of knowledge -- Science studies -- Conflicting theories