3.1: Foundations of Science

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Principle of Actuality

It states that current geologic processes, occurring at the same rates observed today, in the same manner, account for all of Earth’s geological features. The central argument of this principle is “The present is the key to the past.”

Occam’s razor

The principle of simplicity is the central theme of father William of Occam’s (ca. 1300) approach, so much so that this principle has come to be known as “Occam’s Razor.” Occam used his principle to eliminate unnecessary hypotheses and favor shortest explanation (which nowadays is called most parsimonous).

Principle of Falsification

The principle of falsification by sir Karl Popper defined as "A theory is falsifiable ... if there exists at least one ... statement[s] which [is] forbidden by it". An example of non-falsifiable hypothesis could be the Russel’s teapot: “If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes.”

Null and Alternative Hypothesis

Ronald Fisher, British statistician and geneticist formulated an approach of two rival hypotheses: null hypothesis and the alternative hypothesis. If being tested with alternative hypothesis, it is failed-to-reject if the null hypothesis is rejected based on statistical evidence.