Tham khảo tài liệu '501 critical reading questions_part9', ngoại ngữ, anh văn giao tiếp phục vụ nhu cầu học tập, nghiên cứu và làm việc hiệu quả | 501 Critical Reading Questions study. Deductive reasoning is the way in which predictions are used 35 to test a hypothesis. Testing In the twentieth century philosopher Karl Popper introduced the idea that a hypothesis must be falsifiable that is it must be capable of being demonstrated wrong. A hypothesis must make specific predictions 40 these predictions can be tested with concrete measurements to support or refute the hypothesis. For instance Albert Einstein s theory of general relativity makes a few specific predictions about the structure of space and flow of time such as the prediction that light bends in a strong gravitational field and the amount of bending depends in a pre- 45 cise way on the strength of the gravitational field. Observations made of a 1919 solar eclipse supported this hypothesis against other possible hypotheses such as Sir Isaac Newton s theory of gravity which did not make such a prediction. British astronomers used the eclipse to prove Einstein s theory and therefore eventually replaced Newton s 50 theory. Verification Probably the most important aspect of scientific reasoning is verification. Verification is the process of determining whether the hypothesis is in accord with empirical evidence and whether it will 55 continue to be in accord with a more generally expanded body of evidence. Ideally the experiments performed should be fully described so that anyone can reproduce them and many scientists should independently verify every hypothesis. Results that can be obtained from experiments performed by many are termed reproducible and are 60 given much greater weight in evaluating hypotheses than non-reproducible results. Evaluation Falsificationism argues that any hypothesis no matter how respected or time-honored must be discarded once it is contradicted by new reli- 65 able evidence. This is of course an oversimplification since individual scientists inevitably hold on to their pet theory long after contrary evidence has been .
