Criteria of scientific propositions Flashcards
(19 cards)
What is the criteria of scientific propositions?
1- logical consistency
2-testability
3-scope
4-simplicity
5-conservatism
6-fruitfullness
7-novelty
poem to remember the criteria
lucy, tilney, stays, serving, cunt, forever, newb.
what are the 3 types of logical consistency
deduction
induction
abduction
what is deduction (logical consistency)
- infer a proposition about a single case using a general principle.
what is induction
infer/ assume a general statement from a single case.
what is abduction
infer the most plausible principle from a few cases eg the most likely explaination.
what types of logical inference produces a convincing argument and what one produces a possible reality.
deduction and induction = convincing argument.
abduction = possible relaity (less convincing)
what is testability
scientific propositions (hypothesis) need to be testable.
what is scope
This means the general validity of a proposition.
-eg this banana is yellow- its true but minimal scope cause it only applies to that one banana however saying ripe cavendish bananas are yellow has maximal scope and is true.
what is fruitfulness
the broader implications of a scientific proposition beyond the research question.
what is novelty
This is how new and surprising a proposition is.
Reserach that discovers new and surprising things is more valuable and novel then reserach that proves things we already know.
what is simplicity and the other word for it
parsimony
- its the idea that propositions with less assumptions are better as each assumption has risk of being wrong.
so parsimonious (simplistic) propositions are better because there are fewer risks.
This is explained also by occams razor
what is occams razor
the idea that you should exclude all unnecassery assumptions from a proposition.
what is conservatism
This is when a proposition does not involve any new, unproven assumptions and are consistent with exisitng knowledge.
its good when propositions are conservative as existing knowledge is likely to be correct.
how to word conservatism and novelty
and why is there tension between these two things.
the discovery that a whale is a mammal and not a fish was very surprising and novel. It was not concervative as it went against existing knowledge of whales being a type of fish.
There is tension between these two things because they can not both be true at the same time so oppose eachother.
what is a theory
A set of related statements (propositions) that explain a variety of
occurrences (“things”)
what is cogency and what gives you it.
how convincing and strong your scientific proof is. Logical consistency and testability define the cogency of your propositions
what effects the impact of your research and what does impact mean
the contribution of your research in answering important questions or raising new questions. Impact is determined by scope, fruitfulness and novelty of your research.
what is plausability and what effects it
likelihood that a proposition is true even if proofs are incomplete.
This is determined by conservatism and simplicity.
