K Coda
In this chapter, we reviewed the hypothesis and its properties. The modern hypothesis is an empirically testable explanation for an aspect of nature. Hypotheses are not predictions, but they imply predictions; you deduce predictions from hypotheses.
The ultimate uncertainty of knowledge causes the most persistent problem for scientific thinking, and the programs associated with Karl Popper and John Platt are robust scientific methods for dealing with it. They both rely on the ability of experimental tests to falsify or eliminate incorrect hypotheses; the factual content of science is the collection of tested and not falsified hypotheses. Inductive reasoning does not provide a sound basis for establishing scientific truths. Hypotheses that are falsified must be rejected but can be revised and retested. Popper's refusal to grant any special status to a hypothesis that is tested- and-not-falsified cuts across the grain of our intuition. He says that tested and not rejected hypotheses have been corroborated but not confirmed and that corroborated hypotheses can be rationally used as the basis for action. We behave as if they are true while remaining aware that they may be false.
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