Editing Scientific method (section)

===Properties of scientific inquiry===

Scientific knowledge is closely tied to [[Empirical evidence|empirical findings]] and can remain subject to [[falsifiability|falsification]] if new experimental observations are incompatible with what is found. That is, no theory can ever be considered final since new problematic evidence might be discovered. If such evidence is found, a new theory may be proposed, or (more commonly) it is found that modifications to the previous theory are sufficient to explain the new evidence. The strength of a theory relates to how long it has persisted without major alteration to its core principles.

Theories can also become subsumed by other theories. For example, Newton's laws explained thousands of years of scientific observations of the planets [[#precession of Mercury|almost perfectly]]. However, these laws were then determined to be special cases of a more general theory ([[Theory of relativity|relativity]]), which explained both the (previously unexplained) exceptions to Newton's laws and predicted and explained other observations such as the deflection of [[light]] by [[gravity]]. Thus, in certain cases independent, unconnected, scientific observations can be connected, unified by principles of increasing explanatory power.{{sfnp|Brody|1993 |pp=44–45}}{{sfnp|Goldhaber|Nieto|2010|page=942}}

Since new theories might be more comprehensive than what preceded them, and thus be able to explain more than previous ones, successor theories might be able to meet a higher standard by explaining a larger body of observations than their predecessors.{{sfnp|Brody|1993|pp=44–45}} For example, the theory of [[evolution]] explains the [[Biodiversity|diversity of life on Earth]], how species adapt to their environments, and many other [[pattern]]s observed in the natural world;<ref name="Hall08">{{cite book |editor1-last = Hall |editor1-first = B.K. |editor2-last = Hallgrímsson |editor2-first = B. |title = Strickberger's Evolution |year = 2008 |edition = 4th |publisher = Jones & Bartlett |isbn = 978-0-7637-0066-9 |url = https://archive.org/details/strickbergersevo0000hall/page/762 |page = [https://archive.org/details/strickbergersevo0000hall/page/762 762] }}</ref><ref name="Cracraft05">{{cite book | editor1-last = Cracraft | editor1-first = J. | editor2-last = Donoghue | editor2-first = M.J. | title = Assembling the tree of life | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2005 | page = 592 | isbn = 978-0-19-517234-8 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6lXTP0YU6_kC&q=Assembling+the+tree+of+life | access-date = 2020-10-20  | archive-date = 2023-11-29  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231129112730/https://books.google.com/books?id=6lXTP0YU6_kC&q=Assembling+the+tree+of+life#v=snippet&q=Assembling%20the%20tree%20of%20life&f=false | url-status = live }}</ref> its most recent major modification was unification with [[genetics]] to form the [[Extended evolutionary synthesis|modern evolutionary synthesis]]. In subsequent modifications, it has also subsumed aspects of many other fields such as [[biochemistry]] and [[molecular biology]].

<!--(hidden; reason: completely unsourced (A translation of Aristotle cannot possibly be a source for "The classical model of scientific inquiry derives from Aristotle".)
===Models of scientific inquiry===
{{Main|Models of scientific inquiry}}

The classical model of scientific inquiry [[History of scientific method#Aristotle|derives from Aristotle]],<ref>
{{cite book |author=[[Aristotle]] |chapter=[[Prior Analytics]] |translator=Hugh Tredennick |pages=181–531 |title=Aristotle, Volume&nbsp;1 |series=[[Loeb Classical Library]] |publisher=William Heinemann |place=London |year=1938}}
</ref> who distinguished the forms of approximate and exact reasoning, set out the threefold scheme of [[abductive reasoning|abductive]], [[deductive reasoning|deductive]], and [[inductive reasoning|inductive]] [[inference]], and also treated the compound forms such as reasoning by [[analogy]].

The [[hypothetico-deductive model]] or method is a proposed description of the scientific method. Here, predictions from the hypothesis are central: if one assumes the hypothesis to be true, what consequences follow? If a subsequent empirical investigation does not demonstrate that these consequences or predictions correspond to the observable world, the hypothesis can be concluded to be false.

-->