Key Scientific Concepts Defined
Classified in Philosophy and ethics
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Empirical Science
Those that focus on the study of observable facts and are verified by experience.
Formal Sciences
Studying abstract objects and ideals that are the product of the human mind and not found in nature. To check their claims, they do not rely on experience but on logic and coherence.
Scientific Law
Describes how a phenomenon will happen, or is likely to happen, under certain conditions.
Theory
The core of science, as research stems from theories, dictating how observation and data collection are conducted, and enabling explanation and prediction.
Consistency
The ability to explain statements without them contradicting each other.
System
A set where elements are interrelated and interact.
Deductive Method
One that proceeds from the general to the particular, based on judgments or definitions that are a necessary consequence of the former.
Inductive Method
The opposite of the deductive method; one that proceeds from the particular to form a general conclusion.
Hypothetico-deductive Method
A union of the deductive and inductive methods, which has the following steps:
- Observation
- Hypothesis formulation
- Deduction of consequences
- Testing
- Confirmation
Testing (Contrastación)
Verification of the effects derived from the hypothesis.
Refutation
A result from the hypothetico-deductive method that disconfirms the hypothesis.
Epistemology
The discipline that studies how scientific knowledge is produced.
Realism
The point of view in which scientific descriptions are always approximate.
Reductionism
The position which argues that, to be valid, each theory and term should correspond to what is observable in experience.
Conventionalism
The point of view where theories are merely mental constructions that do not correspond with reality, although they are valid as a scientific tool.
Epistemological Anarchism
A position criticizing the rigidity of theories and the scientific community, which impedes the progress of science. It also argues that science can progress through some irrationalities or subjectivities.