Theories and Laws

Abstract

In chapter 4, section vii there was a brief account of the hypotheticodeductive method. The hypothesis, perhaps a very tentative one, is put forward as a way of relating or of explaining certain observed facts. The hypothesis may be in the form of an empirical generalisation whereby observations become more ordered, or it may be in the form of a theory, whereby the facts are explained. Generally facts are ordered by empirical generalisations and then explained by theories, but, occasionally, as we shall see, the theory itself leads the scientist to new empirical generalisations, that is, to relations between observed facts which had not been previously appreciated.