• Hypotheses can be rejected
  but never completely confirmed.

• At best, a theory can be considered adequate
  for describing a specific, finite set of phenomena.

• Do not trust theory - verify through experiment.

• Simple theories are preferable to complicated ones
  (Occam's Razor)
  • Elegance and understanding trump age and authority.

  • If a theory has its predictions come true, we are obliged to acknowledge its efficacy, even if it means rejecting something we formerly believed.

• Theories which have withstood many tests over a long period of time take on an air of [unquestionable] fact.
  • Practically, a "long time" is one human generation.

  
  

  
  

• Scientific fields develop paradigms - a set of theoretical constructs which encapsulate the state of knowledge in that field.
  • The paradigm currently accepted by the majority of practitioners of a particular field is the default "correct" picture.

  • A standard paradigm is true until proven false
    [very thoroughly].

  • It is better to modify a small part of an existing framework to incorporate new experimental data than reject the entire paradigm, even if this makes the theory more complicated.