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Scientific method (scientific methodology)

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General Geology

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Science ((EESS))

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Before entering into the disscussion of what is meant by the term scientific methodology, I must first make clear what is to be understood, in the following text, by the world science. By this term we shall understand a particular mode of knowing, and a particular mode of coming-to-know, that is distinguished from ordinary or everyday knowledge by the following four discriminatory characters:

  • To be systematic—i.e., logically ordered;

  • To be progressive—i.e., always in the state of growing;

  • To be capable of explaining and even predicting things or events that have not been expenrienced;

  • To be communicated in a concise and logically ordered form either in verbal expressions (statements) or with appropriate symbols.

Scientific methodology, then, is a “science of science.” For instance, geological methodology deals not directly with things geological but with the logical ways and procedures of arriving at and ordering geological knowledge. When speaking of scientific methodology, we think...

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References

  • Albritton, C. C., Jr., 1963, The Fabric of Geology. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.

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  • Gregg, J. R., 1954, The Language of Taxonomy. New York: Columbia University Press.

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  • Koch, L. E., 1949, Tetraktys. The system of the categories of natural science and its application to the geological sciences, Australian Jour. Sci. (11) (4) (Supp.), 1–31.

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  • Popper, K. R., 1963, Conjectures and Refutations. The Growth of Scientific Knowledge. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

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  • Whewell, W., 1840, Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, 2 vols. London.

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© 1988 Van Nostrand Reinhold Company Inc.

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KOCH, L.E. (1988). Scientific method (scientific methodology) . In: General Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30844-X_100

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30844-X_100

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-442-22499-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-30844-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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