Scientific method

==Scientific inquiry==
Scientific inquiry generally aims to obtain [[knowledge]] in the form of [[#suitableTest|testable explanations]]<ref name="SuitableTest">Peirce, Charles S., Carnegie application (L75, 1902), ''New Elements of Mathematics'' v. 4, pp. 37–38: "For it is not sufficient that a hypothesis should be a justifiable one. Any hypothesis that explains the facts is justified critically. But among justifiable hypotheses we have to select that one which is suitable for being tested by experiment."</ref><ref name="econ">Peirce, Charles S. (1902), Carnegie application, see MS L75.329330, from [http://www.cspeirce.com/menu/library/bycsp/l75/ver1/l75v1-08.htm#m27 Draft D] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524021101/http://www.cspeirce.com/menu/library/bycsp/l75/ver1/l75v1-08.htm#m27|date=2011-05-24}} of Memoir 27: "Consequently, to discover is simply to expedite an event that would occur sooner or later, if we had not troubled ourselves to make the discovery. Consequently, the art of discovery is purely a question of economics. The economics of research is, so far as logic is concerned, the leading doctrine concerning the art of discovery. Consequently, the conduct of abduction, which is chiefly a question of heuretic and is the first question of heuretic, is to be governed by economical considerations."</ref> that scientists can use to [[Predictability|predict]] the results of future experiments. This allows scientists to gain a better understanding of the topic under study, and later to use that understanding to intervene in its causal mechanisms (such as to cure disease). The better an explanation is at making predictions, the more useful it frequently can be, and the more likely it will continue to explain a body of evidence better than its alternatives. The most successful explanations – those that explain and make accurate predictions in a wide range of circumstances – are often called [[scientific theories]].{{efn-ua|name= aQuestion}}

Most experimental results do not produce large changes in human understanding; improvements in theoretical scientific understanding typically result from a gradual process of development over time, sometimes across different domains of science.<ref>Stanovich, Keith E. (2007). ''How to Think Straight About Psychology''. Boston: Pearson Education. p. 123</ref> Scientific models vary in the extent to which they have been experimentally tested and for how long, and in their acceptance in the scientific community. In general, explanations become accepted over time as evidence accumulates on a given topic, and the explanation in question proves more powerful than its alternatives at explaining the evidence. Often subsequent researchers re-formulate the explanations over time, or combined explanations to produce new explanations.

The ubiquitous element in the scientific method is [[empiricism]]. This is in opposition to stringent forms of [[rationalism]]: the scientific method embodies the position that reason alone cannot solve a particular scientific problem. A strong formulation of the scientific method is not always aligned with a form of [[empiricism]] in which the empirical data is put forward in the form of experience or other abstracted forms of knowledge; in [[#aModel|current scientific practice]], however, the use of [[scientific modelling]] and reliance on abstract typologies and theories is normally accepted. The scientific method counters claims that [[revelation]], political or religious [[dogma]], appeals to tradition, commonly held beliefs, common sense, or currently held theories pose the only possible means of demonstrating truth.<ref name= truthSought4sake /><ref name="reasonsFirstRule">{{cite book |last=Peirce |first=Charles S. |title=Collected Papers |year=1899 |series=v. 1 |at=paragraphs 135–140 |chapter=F.R.L. [First Rule of Logic] |quote=...&nbsp;in order to learn, one must desire to learn&nbsp;... |access-date=2012-01-06 |chapter-url=http://www.princeton.edu/~batke/peirce/frl_99.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106071421/http://www.princeton.edu/~batke/peirce/frl_99.htm |archive-date=January 6, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name= tow />

Tow sees the scientific method in terms of an [[evolutionary algorithm]] applied to science and technology.<ref name= tow>
{{cite book

| last1                 = Tow
| first1                = David Hunter
| title                 = The Future of Life: A Unified Theory of Evolution
| url                   = https://books.google.com/books?id=c0wecGHSpTQC
| series                = Future of Life Series
| publisher             = Future of Life Media
| publication-date      = 2010
| page                  = 262
| access-date            = 2016-12-11
| quote                 = On further examination, however, the scientific method bears a striking similarity to the larger process of evolution itself. [...] Of great significance is the evolutionary algorithm, which uses a simplified subset of the process of natural evolution applied to find the solution to problems that are too complex to solve by traditional analytic methods. In essence, it is a process of accelerated and rigorous trial and error building on previous knowledge to refine an existing hypothesis, or discarding it altogether to find a better model. [...] The evolutionary algorithm is a technique derived from the evolution of knowledge processing applied within the context of science and technology, itself an outcome of evolution. The scientific method continues to evolve through adaptive reward, trial and error, and application of the method to itself.
| date                = 2010-09-11
}}
</ref>

===Properties of scientific inquiry===

Scientific knowledge is closely tied to [[Empirical evidence|empirical findings]] and can remain subject to [[falsifiability|falsification]] if new experimental observations are incompatible with what is found. That is, no theory can ever be considered final since new problematic evidence might be discovered. If such evidence is found, a new theory may be proposed, or (more commonly) it is found that modifications to the previous theory are sufficient to explain the new evidence. The strength of a theory relates to how long it has persisted without major alteration to its core principles.

Theories can also become subsumed by other theories. For example, Newton's laws explained thousands of years of scientific observations of the planets [[#Another example: precession of Mercury|almost perfectly]]. However, these laws were then determined to be special cases of a more general theory ([[Theory of relativity|relativity]]), which explained both the (previously unexplained) exceptions to Newton's laws and predicted and explained other observations such as the deflection of [[light]] by [[gravity]]. Thus, in certain cases independent, unconnected, scientific observations can be connected, unified by principles of increasing explanatory power.{{sfnp|Brody|1993 |pp=44–45}}{{sfnp|Goldhaber|Nieto|2010|page=942}}

Since new theories might be more comprehensive than what preceded them, and thus be able to explain more than previous ones, successor theories might be able to meet a higher standard by explaining a larger body of observations than their predecessors.{{sfnp|Brody|1993|pp=44–45}} For example, the theory of [[evolution]] explains the [[Biodiversity|diversity of life on Earth]], how species adapt to their environments, and many other [[pattern]]s observed in the natural world;<ref name="Hall08">{{cite book |editor1-last = Hall |editor1-first = B.K. |editor2-last = Hallgrímsson |editor2-first = B. |title = Strickberger's Evolution |year = 2008 |edition = 4th |publisher = Jones & Bartlett |isbn = 978-0-7637-0066-9 |url = https://archive.org/details/strickbergersevo0000hall/page/762 |page = [https://archive.org/details/strickbergersevo0000hall/page/762 762] }}</ref><ref name="Cracraft05">{{cite book | editor1-last = Cracraft | editor1-first = J. | editor2-last = Donoghue | editor2-first = M.J. | title = Assembling the tree of life | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2005 | page = 592 | isbn = 978-0-19-517234-8 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6lXTP0YU6_kC&q=Assembling+the+tree+of+life | access-date = 2020-10-20  | archive-date = 2023-11-29  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231129112730/https://books.google.com/books?id=6lXTP0YU6_kC&q=Assembling+the+tree+of+life#v=snippet&q=Assembling%20the%20tree%20of%20life&f=false | url-status = live }}</ref> its most recent major modification was unification with [[genetics]] to form the [[Extended evolutionary synthesis|modern evolutionary synthesis]]. In subsequent modifications, it has also subsumed aspects of many other fields such as [[biochemistry]] and [[molecular biology]].<ref name= tow/>

===Models of scientific inquiry===
{{Main|Models of scientific inquiry}}

The classical model of scientific inquiry [[History of scientific method#Aristotle|derives from Aristotle]],<ref>
{{cite book |author=[[Aristotle]] |chapter=[[Prior Analytics]] |translator=Hugh Tredennick |pages=181–531 |title=Aristotle, Volume&nbsp;1 |series=[[Loeb Classical Library]] |publisher=William Heinemann |place=London |year=1938}}
</ref> who distinguished the forms of approximate and exact reasoning, set out the threefold scheme of [[abductive reasoning|abductive]], [[deductive reasoning|deductive]], and [[inductive reasoning|inductive]] [[inference]], and also treated the compound forms such as reasoning by [[analogy]].

The [[hypothetico-deductive model]] or method is a proposed description of the scientific method. Here, predictions from the hypothesis are central: if one assumes the hypothesis to be true, what consequences follow? If a subsequent empirical investigation does not demonstrate that these consequences or predictions correspond to the observable world, the hypothesis can be concluded to be false.

In 1877,<ref name="Fixation" /> [[Charles Sanders Peirce]] (1839–1914) characterized inquiry in general not as the pursuit of truth ''per se'' but as the struggle to move from irritating, inhibitory doubts born of surprises, disagreements, and the like, and to reach a [[#Beliefs and biases|secure belief]], the belief being that on which one is prepared to act. He framed scientific inquiry as part of a broader spectrum and as spurred, like inquiry generally, by actual doubt, not mere verbal or [[hyperbolic doubt]], which he held to be fruitless.{{efn|1="What one does not in the least doubt one should not pretend to doubt; but a man should train himself to doubt," said Peirce in a brief intellectual autobiography.<ref>{{cite book |contributor-last=Ketner |contributor-first=Kenneth Laine |year=2009 |contribution=Charles Sanders Peirce: Interdisciplinary Scientist |last=Peirce |first=Charles S. |editor-last=Bisanz |editor-first=Elize |title=The Logic of Interdisciplinarity |publisher=Akademie Verlag |place=Berlin}}</ref> Peirce held that actual, genuine doubt originates externally, usually in surprise, but also that it is to be sought and cultivated, "provided only that it be the weighty and noble metal itself, and no counterfeit nor paper substitute".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Peirce |first=Charles S. |date=October 1905 |title=Issues of Pragmaticism |magazine=The Monist |volume=XV |number=4 |pages=481–499, see [https://archive.org/stream/monistquart15hegeuoft#page/484/mode/1up p. 484], and [https://archive.org/stream/monistquart15hegeuoft#page/491/mode/1up p. 491]}} Reprinted in ''Collected Papers'' v. 5, paragraphs 438–463, see 443 and 451.</ref>}}
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