Scientific method Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == History == {{Main|History of scientific method}} {{For timeline|Timeline of the history of the scientific method}} The history of scientific method considers changes in the methodology of scientific inquiry, as distinct from the [[history of science]] itself. The development of rules for [[scientific reasoning]] has not been straightforward; scientific method has been the subject of intense and recurring debate throughout the history of science, and eminent natural philosophers and scientists have argued for the primacy of one or another approach to establishing scientific knowledge. === Early empiricism === Different early expressions of [[empiricism]] and the scientific method can be found throughout history, for instance with the ancient [[Stoics]], [[Epicurus]],<ref name=Asmis>Elizabeth Asmis (1985) ''Epicurus' Scientific Method''. Cornell University Press</ref> [[Alhazen]],{{efn-ua|name= vacuum| Twenty-three hundred years ago, Aristotle proposed that a [[vacuum]] did not exist in nature; thirteen hundred years later, [[#alhazen|Alhazen disproved Aristotle's hypothesis]], using experiments on [[refraction]],<ref name=treatiseOnLight2>Alhacen (c.1035) ''Treatise on Light'' (رسالة في الضوء) as cited in [[Shmuel Sambursky]], ed. (1975) [https://archive.org/details/physicalthoughtf0000unse/page/136/mode/2up Physical thought from the Presocratics to the quantum physicists : an anthology], p.137</ref> thus deducing the existence of [[outer space]].<ref name= alhacenOnRefraction4.28 />}}{{efn|name= alhacenCharacterizes| ''[[Book of Optics]]'' (''circa'' 1027) After anatomical investigation of the human eye, and an exhaustive study of human visual perception, Alhacen characterizes the first postulate of [[Euclid's Optics]] as 'superfluous and useless' (Book I, [6.54] —thereby overturning Euclid's, Ptolemy's, and Galen's [[Emission theory (vision)|emission theory of vision, using logic and deduction from experiment. He showed Euclid's first postulate of Optics to be hypothetical only, and fails to account for his experiments.]]), and deduces that light must enter the eye, in order for us to see. He describes the [[camera obscura]] as part of this investigation.}}{{efn-ua|1=[[Alhazen]] argued the importance of forming questions and subsequently testing them: "How does light travel through transparent bodies? Light travels through transparent bodies in straight lines only... We have explained this exhaustively in our ''[[Book of Optics]]''.{{efn|name= straightLinesOnly }} But let us now mention something to prove this convincingly: the fact that light travels in straight lines is clearly observed in the lights which enter into dark rooms through holes.... [T]he entering light will be clearly observable in the dust which fills the air.<ref name=treatiseOnLight>Alhazen, ''Treatise on Light'' ({{lang|ar|رسالة في الضوء}}), translated into English from German by M. Schwarz, from [http://menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/dmg/periodical/pageview/30949 "Abhandlung über das Licht"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230190424/http://menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/dmg/periodical/pageview/30949 |date=2019-12-30 }}, J. Baarmann (editor and translator from Arabic to German, 1882) ''[[Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft]]'' Vol '''36''' as quoted in {{harvp|Sambursky|1975|p=136}}.</ref> * He demonstrated his conjecture that "light travels through transparent bodies in straight lines only" by placing a straight stick or a taut thread next to the light beam, as quoted in {{harvp|Sambursky|1975|p=136}} to prove that light travels in a straight line. * [[David Hockney]] cites Alhazen several times as the likely source for the portraiture technique using the [[camera obscura]], which Hockney rediscovered with the aid of an optical suggestion from [[Charles M. Falco]]. ''Kitab al-Manazir'', which is Alhazen's ''[[Book of Optics]]'', at that time denoted ''Opticae Thesaurus, Alhazen Arabis'', was translated from Arabic into Latin for European use as early as 1270. Hockney cites Friedrich Risner's 1572 Basle edition of ''Opticae Thesaurus''. Hockney quotes Alhazen as the first clear description of the camera obscura.<ref name= truthSought4sake >{{harvp|Hockney|2006|p=240}}: "Truth is sought for its own sake. And those who are engaged upon the quest for anything for its own sake are not interested in other things. Finding the truth is difficult, and the road to it is rough." – [[Alhazen]] ([[Ibn Al-Haytham]] 965 – c. 1040) ''[[Critique of Ptolemy]]'', translated by S. Pines, ''Actes X Congrès internationale d'histoire des sciences'', Vol '''I''' Ithaca 1962, as quoted in {{harvp|Sambursky|1975|p=139}}. (This quotation is from Alhazen's critique of Ptolemy's books ''[[Almagest]]'', ''Planetary Hypotheses'', and {{cite book |title=Ptolemy's Theory of Visual Perception: An English Translation of the Optics |publisher=American Philosophical Society |isbn=9780871698629 |year=1996 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mhLVHR5QAQkC&dq=Opticae+thesaurus+alhazen&pg=PA59 |translator=A. Mark Smith |access-date=2021-11-27 |archive-date=2023-11-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231129112635/https://books.google.com/books?id=mhLVHR5QAQkC&dq=Opticae+thesaurus+alhazen&pg=PA59#v=onepage&q=Opticae%20thesaurus%20alhazen&f=false |url-status=live }})</ref>}} [[Ibn Sina|Avicenna]], [[Al-Biruni]],{{sfnp|Alikuzai|2013|p=154}}{{sfnp|Rozhanskaya|Levinova|1996}} [[Roger Bacon]]{{efn-lg|His assertions in the ''{{lang|la|Opus Majus}}'' that "theories supplied by reason should be verified by sensory data, aided by instruments, and corroborated by trustworthy witnesses"<ref>Bacon, ''Opus Majus'', Bk.&VI.</ref> were (and still are) considered "one of the first important formulations of the scientific method on record".{{sfnp|Borlik|2011|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=c_ShAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA132 132]}}}}, and [[William of Ockham]]. === The scientific revolution === In the [[scientific revolution]] of the 16th and 17th centuries, the not yet named method first gained significant traction. Some of the most important developments were the furthering of [[empiricism]] by [[Francis Bacon]] and [[Robert Hooke]],<ref>{{Cite book| last = Inwood | first = Stephen | title = The Forgotten Genius : The biography of Robert Hooke (1635–1703) | publisher = MacAdam/Cage Pub. |location=San Francisco | year = 2003 | isbn = 978-1-931561-56-3 |oclc=53006741 |pages=112–116}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The posthumous works of Robert Hooke, M.D. S.R.S. Geom. Prof. Gresh. etc. |year=1705 |first=Robert |last=Hooke |editor-first=Richard |editor-last=Waller |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/b30454621_0001/page/3/mode/1up |chapter=First general: The present state of natural philosophy and wherein it is deficient}}</ref> the [[rationalist]] approach described by [[René Descartes]] and [[inductivism]], brought to particular prominence by and around [[Isaac Newton]]. From the 16th century onwards, experiments were advocated by [[Francis Bacon]], and performed by [[Giambattista della Porta]],<ref>{{cite conference |conference=The optics of Giovan Battista della Porta (1535–1615): A Reassessment Workshop at Technical University of Berlin, 24–25 October 2014 |url=http://www.wissensgeschichte-berlin.de/sites/default/files/2014_10_24_DellaPortaWS_Program_Abstracts.pdf |title=various papers |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180527202632/http://www.wissensgeschichte-berlin.de/sites/default/files/2014_10_24_DellaPortaWS_Program_Abstracts.pdf |archive-date=2018-05-27}}</ref> [[Johannes Kepler]],{{refn|1=Kepler, Johannes (1604) ''Ad Vitellionem paralipomena, quibus astronomiae pars opticae traditur'' (Supplements to Witelo, in which the optical part of astronomy is treated){{efn|The full title translation is from {{harvp|Voelkel|2001|p=60}}.}} as cited in {{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=A. Mark|title=What Is the History of Medieval Optics Really about?|journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society|date=June 2004 |volume=148 |issue=2|pages=180–194|jstor=1558283 |pmid=15338543}} }}{{efn|name= Kepler1604| Kepler was driven to this experiment after observing the partial solar eclipse at Graz, July 10, 1600. He used Tycho Brahe's method of observation, which was to project the image of the Sun on a piece of paper through a pinhole aperture, instead of looking directly at the Sun. He disagreed with Brahe's conclusion that total eclipses of the Sun were impossible because there were historical accounts of total eclipses. Instead, he deduced that the size of the aperture controls the sharpness of the projected image (the larger the aperture, the more accurate the image – this fact is now fundamental for optical system design). {{harvp|Voelkel|2001|p=61}}, notes that Kepler's 1604 experiments produced the first correct account of vision and the eye, because he realized he could not accurately write about astronomical observation by ignoring the eye. {{harvp|Smith|2004|p=192}} recounts how Kepler used Giambattista della Porta's water-filled glass spheres to model the eye, and using an aperture to represent the entrance pupil of the eye, showed that the entire scene at the entrance pupil-focused on a single point of the rear of the glass sphere (representing the retina of the eye). This completed Kepler's investigation of the optical train, as it satisfied his application to astronomy.}} and [[Galileo Galilei]].{{efn-lg|name= empirical|...an experimental approach was advocated by Galileo in 1638 with the publication of ''[[Two New Sciences]]''.{{sfnp|Galileo Galilei|1638}}}} There was particular development aided by theoretical works by a skeptic [[Francisco Sanches]],{{sfnp|Sanches|1988}} by idealists as well as empiricists [[John Locke]], [[George Berkeley]], and [[David Hume]].{{efn-lg|name= particDev |1= Sanches and Locke were both physicians. By his training in Rome and France, Sanches sought a method of science beyond that of the Scholastic Aristotelian school. Botanical gardens were added to the universities in Sanches' time to aid medical training before the 1600s. ''See Locke [https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Locke#An_Essay_Concerning_Human_Understanding_(1689) (1689) An Essay Concerning Human Understanding]'' Berkeley served as foil to the materialist System of the World of Newton; Berkeley emphasizes that scientist should seek 'reduction to regularity'.<ref name= idealism >Lisa Downing, ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' [https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/berkeley/#3.2.3 (Fall 2021) George Berkeley, 3.2.3 Scientific explanation]</ref> Atherton (ed.) 1999 selects Locke, Berkeley, and Hume as part of the empiricist school.<ref>Margaret Atherton (ed.) 1999 [https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/iifXAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwik0tS18qOFAxXCj4kEHYLuD28Qre8FegQICxAD The Empiricists]</ref> }} === The canonical method === The early version of the canonical "sequence" of elements was first formulated in the 19th century. A sea voyage from America to Europe afforded [[C. S. Peirce]] the distance to clarify his ideas, gradually resulting in the [[hypothetico-deductive model]].{{sfnp|Godfrey-Smith|2003|p=236}} Formulated in the 20th century, the model has undergone significant revision since first proposed. The term "scientific method" emerged in the 19th century, as a result of significant institutional development of science, and terminologies establishing clear [[Demarcation problem|boundaries]] between science and non-science, such as "scientist" and "pseudoscience", appearing.{{sfnp|Thurs|2011}} Throughout the 1830s and 1850s, when Baconianism was popular, naturalists like William Whewell, John Herschel, John Stuart Mill engaged in debates over "induction" and "facts" and were focused on how to generate knowledge.{{sfnp|Thurs|2011}} In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a debate over [[Philosophical realism|realism]] vs. [[antirealism]] was conducted as powerful scientific theories extended beyond the realm of the observable.<ref name="auto">{{cite book |last=Achinstein |first= Peter |chapter=General Introduction |pages=1–5 |title=Science Rules: A Historical Introduction to Scientific Methods |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |date=2004 |isbn=978-0-8018-7943-2}}</ref> === Modern use and critical thought === {{anchor|theTermSci}}The term "scientific method" came into popular use in the twentieth century; [[#CITEREFDewey1910|Dewey's 1910 book]], ''[[How We Think]]'', inspired [[#aGuideline|popular guideline]]s,<ref name= cowles>{{harvp|Cowles|2020|p=264}}</ref> appearing in dictionaries and science textbooks, although there was little consensus over its meaning.{{sfnp|Thurs|2011}} Although there was growth through the middle of the twentieth century,{{efn|name= deweySchool|1= The struggle to teach science has ranged from recitals of the Neo-platonic First Discourse during the Islamic Golden Age, to Dewey's Laboratory school in 1902. Cowles 2020 notes that Dewey regarded the Lab school as a collaboration between teachers and students. The five-step exposition was taken as mandatory, rather than descriptive. Dismayed by the Procrustean interpretation, Dewey attempted to tone down his five-step scheme by re-naming the steps to phases. The edit was ignored. <!-- Work in process. (see also: [[Talk:Scientific method/Archive 23#When did it become popular to teach the method as a sequence of steps?]])-->}} by the 1960s and 1970s numerous influential philosophers of science such as [[Thomas Kuhn]] and [[Paul Feyerabend]] had questioned the universality of the "scientific method" and in doing so largely replaced the notion of science as a homogeneous and universal method with that of it being a heterogeneous and local practice.{{sfnp|Thurs|2011}} In particular, {{anchor|critiquesOfFeyerabend}}Paul Feyerabend, in the 1975 first edition of his book ''[[Against Method]]'', argued against there being any universal rules of [[science]];<ref name="auto"/> [[Karl Popper]],{{efn-lg|Popper, in his 1963 publication of ''Conjectures and Refutations'' argued that merely [[Trial and error|Trial and Error]] can stand to be called a 'universal method'.<ref name= trialAndErr>{{ citation | mode=cs1 | url= http://www.paul-rosenfels.org/Popper.pdf | last= Popper | author-link= Karl Popper | date= 1963 | title= Conjectures and Refutations | pages=312–365 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171013124349/http://www.paul-rosenfels.org/Popper.pdf |archive-date =2017-10-13 |ref=none | quote=If we have made this our task, then there is no more rational procedure than the method of trial and error--of conjecture and refutation}}</ref>}} Gauch 2003,<ref name= allScience /> and Tow 2010<ref name= tow /> disagree with Feyerabend's claim. Later stances include physicist [[Lee Smolin]]'s 2013 essay "There Is No Scientific Method",<ref name="Smolin 2013">{{cite web |url=http://bigthink.com/in-their-own-words/there-is-no-scientific-method |title=There is No Scientific Method |last1=Smolin |first1=Lee |access-date=2016-06-07 |date=May 2013 |archive-date=2016-08-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807052038/http://bigthink.com/in-their-own-words/there-is-no-scientific-method |url-status=live }}</ref> in which he espouses two [[#ethicalPosition|ethical principle]]s,{{efn-lg|name= ethicalPosition|Lee Smolin, in his 2013 essay "There Is No Scientific Method",<ref name="Smolin 2013" /> espouses two [[#ethicalPosition|ethical principle]]s. Firstly: "we agree to tell the truth and we agree to be governed by rational argument from public evidence". And secondly, that ..."when the evidence is not sufficient to decide from rational argument, whether one point of view is right or another point of view is right, we agree to encourage competition and diversification". Thus echoing {{harvp|Popper|1963|p=viii}}}} and [[History of science|historian of science]] Daniel Thurs' chapter in the 2015 book ''Newton's Apple and Other Myths about Science'', which concluded that the scientific method is a myth or, at best, an idealization.<ref>{{Citation | last = Thurs | first = Daniel P. | chapter = That the scientific method accurately reflects what scientists actually do | editor-last1 = Numbers | editor-first1 = Ronald L. | editor-link = Ronald L. Numbers | editor-last2 = Kampourakis | editor-first2 = Kostas | title = Newton's Apple and Other Myths about Science | pages = 210–218 | publisher = Harvard University Press | year = 2015 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pWouCwAAQBAJ&q=newton%27s+apple+and+other+myths+about+science | isbn = 978-0-674-91547-3 | quote = It's probably best to get the bad news out of the way first, the so-called scientific method is a myth. ... If typical formulations were accurate, the only location true science would be taking place in would be grade-school classrooms. | access-date = 2020-10-20 | archive-date = 2023-11-29 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231129112729/https://books.google.com/books?id=pWouCwAAQBAJ&q=newton%27s+apple+and+other+myths+about+science#v=snippet&q=newton's%20apple%20and%20other%20myths%20about%20science&f=false | url-status = live }}</ref> As [[#Beliefs and biases|myth]]s are beliefs,<ref name= beliefCreatesReality /> they are subject to the [[narrative fallacy]] as Taleb points out.<ref name= narrativeFallacy /> Philosophers [[Robert Nola]] and Howard Sankey, in their 2007 book ''Theories of Scientific Method'', said that debates over the scientific method continue, and argued that Feyerabend, despite the title of ''Against Method'', accepted certain rules of method and attempted to justify those rules with a meta methodology.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nola |first1=Robert |author1-link= Robert Nola |last2=Sankey |first2=Howard |date=2007 |title=Theories of Scientific Method: An Introduction |series=Philosophy and science |volume=2 |location=Montréal |publisher=[[McGill–Queen's University Press]] |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=aKjgBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 1], [https://books.google.com/books?id=aKjgBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA300 300] |isbn=9780773533448 |oclc=144602109 |doi=10.4324/9781315711959 |quote=There is a large core of people who think there is such a thing as a scientific method that can be justified, although not all agree as to what this might be. But there are also a growing number of people who think that there is no method to be justified. For some, the whole idea is yesteryear's debate, the continuation of which can be summed up as yet more of the proverbial 'flogging a dead horse'. We beg to differ. ... We shall claim that Feyerabend did endorse various scientific values, did accept rules of method (on a certain understanding of what these are), and did attempt to justify them using a meta methodology somewhat akin to the principle of [[reflective equilibrium]].}}</ref> Staddon (2017) argues it is a mistake to try following rules in the absence of an algorithmic scientific method; in that case, "science is best understood through examples".<ref name="Staddon 2017 p. ">{{cite book |last=Staddon |first=John | title=Scientific Method: How Science Works, Fails to Work, and Pretends to Work | publisher=Routledge | publication-place=New York | date=2017-12-01 | isbn=978-1-315-10070-8 | doi=10.4324/9781315100708 | page=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/10161/21425/StaddonHistoryofScienceSept2020.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y| title = Whatever Happened to History of Science?| date = 16 September 2020| access-date = 2021-08-27 | archive-date = 2021-08-27 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210827092318/https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/10161/21425/StaddonHistoryofScienceSept2020.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y| url-status = live| last1 = Staddon| first1 = John|quote="science is best understood through examples"}}</ref> But algorithmic methods, such as ''disproof of existing theory by experiment'' have been used since [[Alhacen]] (1027) ''[[Book of Optics]]'',{{efn|name= alhacenCharacterizes}} and Galileo (1638) ''Two New Sciences'',{{sfnp|Galileo Galilei|1638}} and ''The Assayer''<ref name= ilSaggiatore /> still stand as scientific method. 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