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2017-10-09

The Simple View of the Scientific Method in Philosophy

The philosophy of science has been widely used by researchers in the quest for facts that exist on earth. It is one of the methods that is also commonly utilized in scientific endeavors. Philosophers, such as Aristotle and Francis Bacon, view it as an accurate observation of an event without any bias or preconceived notions. It should be based on logical deductions that could be demonstrated.  It could be further explained in these simple statements.



Scientific methods make use of experimentation



Francis Bacon, the Father of Experimental Science, believes that to determine facts, one should derive facts from experimentation. The results observed should be based on empirical methods. Before you can experiment, however, you have to know basic principles or “first principles.” These are already established facts based on induction or deduction.

Induction is the process where you arrive at a conclusion through the observation of specific outcomes followed by general outcomes, while deduction is from general to specific observations. The most preferred is the induction method because it is simpler and more organized.

Scientific methods usually use hypotheses to explain propositions Scientists discover facts by searching for explanations for certain phenomena. Johann Galle discovered the planet Neptune through deduction. He did this by proposing that since Uranus has an erratic behavior, and was not following Kepler’s law of planetary motion; there must be a distant body that exerts gravitational pull on Uranus, and he discovered Neptune.

Newton’s Law of Motion has elucidated Kepler’s law of gravitation and Galileo’s law of acceleration. Newton created a hypothesis and through deduction arrived at his more specific facts and one of them is that:

“Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.”

Scientific methods employ organized and well documented steps



The processes are arranged chronologically and results and the empirical data or observations are well documented. There are valid explanations to the arrangement of the steps, which are discussed in detail. The hypotheses serve as a proposed explanation to an existing problem or fact. At every step, the details of the observations should be recorded properly.

In the nineteenth century, Pierre Duhem argued that philosophy as a science should not only be concerned with observations but should also deal with theoretical frameworks and ‘interlocking group of hypotheses.” Duhem countered Newton’s deductive method.

As the world evolves into the 21st century of computers and techno gadgets, the scientific method in Philosophy also takes in a new form. The important thing to remember is that the scientific method would generally require first principles, deductions or inductions, logical and organized frameworks, hypotheses, and the proper records of the observations of these various steps.



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