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alternative model of the process of science has been proposed by Thomas Kuhn, who suggested that sociological mechanisms were important in science. Some 'post-modernists' have gone even farther and claimed that sociological mechanisms are the only content of science and thus, implicitly, science differs only in the details of its sociology from, say Druidic tree spirit beliefs, as a description of reality (no offense is intended to Druids, if there be any remaining). |
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alternative model of the process of science has been proposed by Thomas Kuhn, who suggested that sociological mechanisms were important in science. Some "post-modernists" have gone even further and claimed that sociological mechanisms are the only content of science and thus, implicitly, science differs only in the details of its sociology from, say Druidic tree spirit beliefs, as a description of reality (no offense is intended to Druids, if there be any remaining). |
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Scientists should also attempt to design their experiments carefully. For example, if the measurements to be taken are difficult or subject to observer bias, one must be careful to avoid distorting the results by the experimenter's wishes. When experimenting on complex systems, one must be careful to isolate the effect being tested from other possible causes of the intended result (this is called a controlled experiment). In testing a drug, for example, it is important to carefully test that the supposed effect of the drug is produced only by the drug itself, and not the placebo effect or by random chance. Doctors do this with what is called a double-blind study: two groups of patients are compared, one of which receives the drug and one of which does not. No patients in either group knows whether or not they are getting it; even the doctors who interact with the patients don't know which group they are giving the real drugs to and which they are giving fake drugs, so their knowledge can't influence the patients either. |
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Scientists should also attempt to design their experiments carefully. For example, if the measurements to be taken are difficult or subject to observer bias, one must be careful to avoid distorting the results by the experimenter's wishes. When experimenting on complex systems, one must be careful to isolate the effect being tested from other possible causes of the intended result (this is called a controlled experiment). In testing a drug, for example, it is important to carefully test that the supposed effect of the drug is produced only by the drug itself, and not the placebo effect or by random chance. Doctors do this with what is called a double-blind study: two groups of patients are compared, one of which receives the drug and one of which receives a placebo. No patient in either group knows whether or not they are getting the real drug; even the doctors who interact with the patients don't know which group they are giving the real drugs to and which they are giving fake drugs, so their knowledge can't influence the patients either. |
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Any hypothesis, no matter how respected or time-honored, _must_ be discarded once it is contradicted by new evidence. Hence _all_ scientific knowledge is always in a state of flux, for at any time new evidence could be presented that contradicts long-held hypothesises; some may have been so long-held as to have acquired dogmatic status for some. A classic example is the Wave Theory of Light--although it had been held to be incontrovertible for many decades, it was refuted by the discovery of the photoelectric effect. The currently held theory of light holds that photons (the particles of light) also behave as waves under some circumstances. In the tree example, the lack of scorch marks or of reports of lightning, combined with reports of hurricane force winds would cause the original hypothesis to be re-evaluated as less probable and a new one ("The tree was knocked over by strong winds") to be proposed. Choosing between the two would require additional tests. Note, however, that the tree example involves 'historical tests' and illustrates one of the differences between an experimental science (eg, physics) and an observational one (eg, paleontology or stellar evolution). |
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Any hypothesis, no matter how respected or time-honored, must be discarded once it is contradicted by new evidence. Hence all scientific knowledge is always in a state of flux, for at any time new evidence could be presented that contradicts long-held hypothesises. A classic example is the Wave Theory of Light--although it had been held to be incontrovertible for many decades, it was refuted by the discovery of the photoelectric effect. The currently held theory of light holds that photons (the particles of light) also behave as waves under some circumstances. In the tree example, the lack of scorch marks or of reports of lightning, combined with reports of hurricane force winds would cause the original hypothesis to be re-evaluated as less probable and a new one ("The tree was knocked over by strong winds") to be proposed. Choosing between the two would require additional tests. Note, however, that the tree example involves "historical tests" and illustrates one of the differences between an experimental science (e.g., physics) and an observational one (e.g., paleontology or stellar evolution). |
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Some believe that scientific principles have been 'solidly' established, beyond question. Some scientists themselves may indeed feel that way, having come to rely upon many of the results of science without having done all the experiments themselves; after all, one cannot expect every individual scientist to repeat hundreds of years worth of experiments. Many scientists even encourage an attitude of skepticism toward claims that contradict the current state of common knowledge; but that only means such claims must meet a higher burden before being accepted, not that they can never be accepted. In the extreme some, including some scientists, believe in scientific principles, or even 'science' itself, as a matter of faith in a manner similar to those of religious believers. However, neither science nor scientific method itself do not rely on faith; all scientific facts (ie, measurements) and explanations (ie, hypothesises) are subject to test, and will eventually be rejected as the best available hypothesis upon new evidence falsifying them. |
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Some believe that scientific principles have been "solidly" established, beyond question. Some scientists themselves may indeed feel that way, having come to rely upon many of the results of science without having done all the experiments themselves; after all, one cannot expect every individual scientist to repeat hundreds of years' worth of experiments. Many scientists even encourage an attitude of skepticism toward claims that contradict the current state of common knowledge; but that only means such claims must meet a higher burden before being accepted, not that they can never be accepted. In the extreme some, including some scientists, believe in scientific principles, or even "science" itself, as a matter of faith in a manner similar to those of religious believers. However, neither science nor scientific method itself rely on faith; all scientific facts (i.e., measurements) and explanations (i.e., hypothesises) are subject to test, and will eventually be rejected as the best available hypothesis upon new evidence falsifying them. |
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Another criticism of the scientific method (as here presented) is that it fails to acknowledge the incalculable impact that mathematics has had on scientific research and direction. A hypothesis about the physical world that is based solely on implications derived from mathematical analysis can hardly be said to be in accordance with the "observational" phase of the scientific method (a purely mathematical property cannot properly be called a "fact" about the physical universe). Nonetheless scientific history can recount hundreds of such occasions where a theory has been proposed based solely on mathematical findings, notably some aspects of quantum mechanics and the application of [fractal geometry]? to certain areas within biology, among others. A simple reply to this is that it does not affect the value of the scientific method itself to add an extra prior step: that is, to use mathematical results to choose what to observe and to inspire hypotheses. The unreasonable application of purely theoretical structures to actual physical reality (eg, mathematical group theory with regard to particle energy transitions) is a long-standing concern and is as yet unexplained. |
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Another criticism of the scientific method (as here presented) is that it fails to acknowledge the incalculable impact that mathematics has had on scientific research and direction. A hypothesis about the physical world that is based solely on implications derived from mathematical analysis can hardly be said to be in accordance with the "observational" phase of the scientific method (a purely mathematical property cannot properly be called a "fact" about the physical universe). Nonetheless scientific history can recount hundreds of such occasions where a theory has been proposed based solely on mathematical findings, notably some aspects of quantum mechanics and the application of [fractal geometry]? to certain areas within biology, among others. A simple reply to this is that it does not affect the value of the scientific method itself to add an extra prior step: that is, to use mathematical results to choose what to observe and to inspire hypotheses. The unreasonable application of purely theoretical structures to actual physical reality (for example, mathematical group theory with regard to particle energy transitions) is a long-standing concern and is as yet unexplained. |
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