Vexen Crabtree's Blurty

Hypothesis and Theory, according to Bertrand Russell

I have added the following neat little description from Bertrand Russell, to my page on how scientific hypothesis become theories, driven by observation and experiment:

“Science starts, not from large assumptions but from particular facts discovered by observation or experiment. From a number of such facts a general rule is arrived at, of which, if it is true, the facts in questions are instances. This rule is not positively asserted, but is accepted, to begin with, as a working hypothesis. If it is correct, certain hitherto unobserved phenomenon will take place in certain circumstances. If it is found that they do take place, that so far confirms the hypothesis; if they do not, the hypothesis must be discarded and a new one must be invented. However many facts are found to fit the hypothesis, that does not make it certain, although in the end it may come to be thought of in a high degree probable; in that case, it is called a theory rather than a hypothesis.”

Taken from: "Religion and Science" by Bertrand Russell, p13-14

Current Mood: happy