Scientific Results are Examined Collaboratively. Scientists do not work alone, but in a particular kind of community. The last stage of a research project is publishing and explaining the results. Assuming these results get noticed, this begins the process of … Continue reading
Scientists must have Integrity. Because Science involves an ethical principle, the love of truth, its practice cannot be unmoored from principles of morality. A hypothesis can only be put to a fair test by a person who prefers knowing the … Continue reading
Science involves Precise Description. To be capable of being confirmed or ruled out at the high levels of reliability associated with Science, a hypothesis must be stated in a way which is precise enough to do definitive tests. Even if … Continue reading
Science requires Approximations. Every kind of professional activity changes the way you think. It rewires your brain so that even when you're off the job, things start looking a certain way. For example, to a computer programmer everything looks like … Continue reading
Scientific Theories must be Elegant. Since there are always infinitely many different hypotheses which fit any set of data, there must be some prior beliefs which we use to decide between them. Any hypothesis which has an excessive number of … Continue reading
