Philosophers and biologists who have tried to clarify the meaning of empirical adaptationism usually share, explicitly or implicitly, two assumptions: (1) Empirical adaptationism is an empirical claim that is scientifically testable; (2) testing empirical adaptationism is scientifically valuable. In ...
The first of these claims expresses an attestable fact of general scientific practice. The second claim expresses instead a fundamental tenet of a broad naturalistic picture of inquiry. In this text I don’t argue for but simply take for granted a naturalistic viewpoint according to which science...
Notwithstanding its distance from nature, it makes an unambiguous claim and is subject to falsification through experiment, therefore it is scientific. Contrary to the position taken by the second of my correspondents above, it is testable and formally inductive — it is a general statement about ...
Despite its name, string theory is more accurately described as a theoretical framework – a collection of ideas that might one day lead to testable scientific theories. This alone is not a mark against it; many scientific developments begin as frameworks. Whether we call it a theory or a fra...
Scientific Explanation | Definition, Steps & Examples from Chapter 1 / Lesson 3 126K Learn about the process of developing a scientific explanation. Discover how the scientific process results in the formation of a new scientific explanation. Related...
Explain how the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest controlled experiments illustrated the three scientific principles of sustainability. If you are reading an article that makes a scientific claim, what are some ways that you can verify you are reading a credible source?
In contrast to the energy balance model, the carbohydrate-insulin model makes a bold claim: overeating isn’t the main cause of obesity. Instead, the carbohydrate-insulin model lays much of the blame for the current obesity epidemic on modern dietary patterns characterized b...
Motivating effortful behaviour is a problem employers, governments and nonprofits face globally. However, most studies on motivation are done in Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic (WEIRD) cultures. We compared how hard people in six c
In May 2019, the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) convened a panel of nutritionists, physiologists and microbiologists to review the definition and scope of synbiotics. The panel updated the definition of a synbi
Examples of a Hypothesis Not Written in a Testable Form It doesn't matter whether or not you skip class.This hypothesis can't be tested because it doesn't make any actual claim regarding the outcome of skipping class. "It doesn't matter" doesn't have any specific meaning, so it can't...