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Twelve: Session Ten |
In this section you learned the following things about hypotheses:
- Setting up and testing hypotheses is the
means of scientific investigation. It is the basis of the scientific method.
- Hypothotheses are either confirmed or falsified. When confirmed they
take the form Affirming the Consequent, which is a formal fallacy. When
falsified, the hypothesis takes the form Modus Tollens, which is a deductively
valid form.
- Hypotheses can never be proven true, but can be proven false. It is the
underlying logical structure that makes this so.
- There is no logical difference between hypotheses, theories, or laws.
They all follow the same form, and are subject to revision. Unless observed
directly (as in the case of the shape of the planet Earth) they cannot
be proven.
- Hypotheses, theories, and laws can be very useful in explaining things.
There are five criteria for evaluating them: Relevance, Testability, Compatibility,
Predictive characterisics, Simplicity. Even if all of these work well,
the hypothesis could still be false.
- World views have the same characteristics of hypotheses. They should
be considered tentative and subject to revision. They are never provable
in toto.
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