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2.4 How Science Progresses

Progress is movement towards a defined goal. Progress in science may involve changes in any of three levels- the findings (facts), the concepts and the methods of reasoning. We now look at three contrasting philosophies of how these changes take place.

Inductivist view – Nothing discarded. | Building block approach. Gradually, steadily, cumulatively, building up the edifice of science. Every block is good. Nothing needs to be discarded. |

Popper (1902-1994) Progress through falsification | Science is perhaps the only human activity in which errors are systematically criticized and often corrected. In other fields there is change but rarely progress.What distinguishes science from other fields is that there must exist a test, based on observations, whereby a theory can be supported or proven wrong. If not, it is not science. 0 For a theory to be scientific, it must be falsifiable. 1 Positive support does not prove the theory, but negative results disprove it. 2 Progress is made when an established theory is not supported by new observations. It is only then that the limits of validity have been found. The theory then has to be modified or discarded.Summary of Popper - To make progress, we need to find where the theory doesn’t work, and correct it. |

Thomas Kuhn (1922-1996)– Progress through paradigm shifts | 3 Paradigm – a framework of beliefs within which scientists conduct their research at a given time. 4 The so-called scientific method suggests an independence of inquiry that is not really present in most cases. Young scientists are trained into accepting an ensemble of beliefs and habits- from jargon and symbols to models, values, exemplars and commitments. 5 Paradigm – a model or concrete example which bridges the gap between content and application of a scientific theory. Once a paradigm is accepted, scientists can take its premises for granted. 6 Normal Science – paradigm dominant. 7 Scientists work...