The+Scientific+Method

=Consider again Feynman's chess metaphor=

What do we mean by "understanding" something? We can imagine that this complicated array of moving things which constitutes "the world" is something like a great chess game being played by the gods, and we are observers of the game. We do not know what the rules of the game are; all we are allowed to do is to //watch// the playing. Of course, if we watch long enough, we may eventually catch on to a few of the rules...Even if we knew every rule, however, we might not be able to understand why a particular move is made in the game, merely because it is too complicated and our minds are limited. If you play chess you must know that it is easy to learn all the rules, and yet it is often very hard to select the best move or to understand why a player moves as he does. So it is in nature, only much more so; but we may be able at least to find all the rules. Actually, we do not have all the rules now. (Every once in a while something like castling is going on that we still do not understand.) Aside from not knowing all of the rules, what we really can explain in terms of those rules is very limited, because almost all situations are so enormously complicated that we cannot follow the plays of the game using the rules, much less tell what is going to happen next. We must, therefore, limit ourselves to the more basic question of the rules of the game. If we know the rules, we consider that we "understand" the world.

Let's use a chess game to begin to explore the scientific method
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Consider the diagram of the Scientific Method. Can you fit our chess game into this scheme?

 * 1) Is this the best model for a "scientific method"? Is there another/better way?
 * 2) What are the problems that can arise at each of the points above?

What exactly does the Scientific Method accomplish? Examine the diagram below to answer this question.


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van de Lagemaat text p.p. 225-235
**How to draw boundaries between science and pseudoscience**

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 * Some positions taken on the nature of the scientific method**

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http://www.michaelshermer.com/2011/09/what-is-pseudoscience/