gnostic
The Lost One
The “systematic study” of the “physical and natural world” is the set of explanations and set of predictions as to WHAT “parts” of the world it is studying, as well as studying HOW they respectively “work” (eg the physical processes, or the mechanisms of those “parts”).
Explaining the WHATs and explaining the HOWs are the essential components of any development of the model or hypothesis; the “formulation of the model” or the hypothesis is described as the first half of the Scientific Method.
The other half of the definition “…through observation, experimentation, and the testing of theories against the evidence obtained” is the second half of the Scientific Method - the “testing of the model” or testing of the hypothesis.
In this part of Scientific Method, the purpose of the testing the model, are ATTEMPTS TO REFUTE THE MODEL with observations.
observations include experiments and evidence, and such observations often provide information about “the physical and natural world”, such as properties of the objects, quantitative information and measurements are essential parts of observations.
For instance, when a technician opened up tv, radio or computer, he has number of devices that are tools that can diagnose where faulty component(s) are causing malfunction of the tv, radio or computer circuitry (eg components such as transistors, resistors, capacitors, etc). These devices can include multimeter or oscilloscope That can measure the electrical power and current running through the circuit, the voltage of each components. The oscilloscope can do the same thing as multimeter, but they have other function, such as measuring the periods, frequencies, wavelengths of specific type of analog or digital signals.
These measuring tools are essential that not only detect and measure electricity and electric fields, those measurements are part of information or data, the means to test the faults in tv, radio or computer.
The points in my example, is to show how important data gathering are, when it come to experimentation and evidence gathering. Data are themselves ”evidence” that scientists need to analyse when it comes to “testing the model”. Data are what needed when they presented their hypotheses before Peer Review.
getting back to Scientific Method, the testing of the model use OBSERVATIONS (evidence & experiments plus data) to verify or to refute model.
Scientific Method, in both parts (formulation of hypothesis & testing the hypothesis) all come back to the first requirement of what is science - Falsifiability.
Every models (every hypotheses, every theories) must be falsifiable.
Science illiterate people often misunderstand what it means by model being “falsifiable”.
it means that any idea, any concept or framework, any explantation, they all needs to be “testable” and “refutable”.
It mean, the scientists must develop the model that have the potential to test and to refute the model. Falsifiability is all about the ability to find faults with the hypothesis, finding the flaws and weaknesses of the hypothesis, to have the potential to refute and reject the hypothesis.
Unfalsifiable ideas, unfalsifiable concepts or frameworks, unfalsifiable explanations are the ones that cannot be tested, therefore it goes against Falsifiability and against Scientific Method.
Intelligent Design is unfalsifiable concepts. So are Irreducible Complexity. There have be no evidence, no experiments and no data, to test either ID or IC, because they are both untestable.
