Class Chem 20A Professor Scerri E R Date Friday September 25 2015 Lecture 1 The Scientific Method Traditional View observations laws theories No theory or law is ever proven despite the amount of evidence The traditional view makes an effort to prove something once and for all Problem of Induction Induction Definition forming a generalized conclusion from particular instances No absolute truth can be derived from induction and therefore nothing can be proven through science One exception can disprove a law and make it invalid i e All swans are white A black swan was found proving the statement invalid Karl Popper and His Philosophy In order to be scientific theories or branches of knowledge must be refutable by evidence Anything that is not refutable by evidence such as pseudoscience is not scientific Laws and theories can be refuted and proven to be invalid Rather than attempt to prove a hypothesis Popper suggests that we should instead attempt to disprove it Null hypothesis Until a theory is disproven it is temporarily accepted The way that science progresses is by disproving theories and discarding invalid information Eventually all theories will be refuted No theory is the final word Laws are superseded by theories as theories contain and explain many laws Laws describe how Theories explain why Kuhnian Scheme Pre scientific stage i e alchemy Paradigm or a new way of thought i e chemistry anomalies crisis revolution cycle repeats Science doesn t actually get better but constantly changes Reductionism In order to study a system it must be broken up into its components and its components must be studied Each branch of science reduces to a more fundamental one Physics is the most fundamental Biology Chemistry Physics