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What is modern scientific method?

Modern scientific method is nothing more than a formalism.

It consists in formulating knowledge in the form of propositions such as 'If A₁ and A₂ and A₃, etc., then B', or equivalent.These propositions must also satisfy two conditions:

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The statement must be public

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anyone can reproduce the experiment, meaning by reproducing the experimental conditions A₁ and A₂ and A₃, etc., observe the conclusion B.

If someone who reproduces the experimental conditions does not observe the conclusion, then the proposition is invalidated and removed.

Interest in science

It does not contradict itself. Therefore, there is no reason to resort to social violence to impose a conclusion. When scientists violently oppose each other, it is because they present as scientific propositions statements that are abusive generalizations, that is, in which part of the experimental conditions has been forgotten.

Ignorance of the modern scientific method and its social consequences

On one hand, we can observe that even individuals who have received a Nobel Prize in a scientific field are often unable to clearly explain what modern scientific method is, even though they practice it perfectly well.

On the other hand, people who have studied literature are generally unable to understand the difference between a scientific proposition and a merely plausible opinion. This is a big problem because it leads them to oppose opinions to scientific propositions, and this leads to dogmatic decisions from individuals who think of themselves as tolerant because they compare opinions.Indeed, ignorance of the fundamental difference between a fact established according to the modern scientific method and a merely plausible opinion leads these people to consider as a sign of intolerance, coupled with a personal attack, any attempt to place a contrary opinion above their merely plausible opinion, under the pretext that it is the product of the modern scientific approach. In fact, this leads them to violently attack people who defend objective facts against beliefs. See the question 'What must one do to be a good person?'

Quotations

Henri Poincaré, Science and Hypothesis, 1917: « Doubting everything or believing everything are two equally convenient solutions, which both spare us the need to think. »

Confucius, The Analects, 2.17: « Lou, would you like me to teach you the way to attain true knowledge? To know what one knows and to know what one does not know: that is true knowledge. »

For further reading

Read the beginning of chapter 22 'Citizenship, Education and Philosophy' in the book From Capital to Reason.

As explained in the article 'Building the human sciences like mathematics', this site constitutes a new approach to the human sciences, inspired by the methodology used to build mathematics.

 

2022-07-10 10:43:05 Cyril Refutability

Karl Popper a introduit le critère de réfutabilité pour toute hypothèse scientifique, qui depuis un siècle fait consensus dans la communauté scientifique.
Cela n'empêche pas certains scientifiques de le remettre en cause pour faire valoir leur théories invérifiables (théorie des cordes, multivers...) :
https://www.nature.com/articles/516321a
Cela porte à penser qu'il faut faire confiance à la science, mais se méfier des scientifiques :)

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