Darwin and the scientific method
Darwin and the scientific method
复制标题
DOI：
10.1073/pnas.0901404106
复制
发表时间：
2009-06-16
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Ayala, Francisco J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Ayala, Francisco J.
在达尔文的方法论和他为公众消费而描述的方法论之间存在矛盾。达尔文声称，他“根据真正的培根（归纳）原则，在没有任何理论的情况下，大规模地收集事实。他还写道：“任何人都不应该看到，如果所有的观察要有任何用处，那么它必须支持或反对某种观点，这是多么奇怪！“科学方法包括两集。第一种是提出假设，第二种是通过实验来检验假设。将科学与其他知识区分开来的是第二个阶段：通过观察从一个假设中得出的预测在相关的观察和实验中是否成立，对假设进行实证检验。一个假说只有当它与尚未观察到的某些而不是其他可能的事态相一致时才是科学的，这样它就有可能被经验证伪。达尔文在西方思想史上占有崇高的地位，他的进化论当之无愧。在《物种起源》一书中，他列出了证明生物进化的证据。更重要的是，他发现了自然选择，这个过程解释了生物体的适应性及其复杂性和多样性。自然选择和进化的其他因果过程是通过制定和测试假设来研究的。达尔文在地质学、植物形态学、生理学、心理学和进化论等多个领域提出了假说，并对这些假说进行了严格的实证检验。
There is a contradiction between Darwin's methodology and how he described it for public consumption. Darwin claimed that he proceeded "on true Baconian [inductive] principles and without any theory collected facts on a wholesale scale.'' He also wrote, "How odd it is that anyone should not see that all observation must be for or against some view if it is to be of any service!'' The scientific method includes 2 episodes. The first consists of formulating hypotheses; the second consists of experimentally testing them. What differentiates science from other knowledge is the second episode: subjecting hypotheses to empirical testing by observing whether or not predictions derived from a hypothesis are the case in relevant observations and experiments. A hypothesis is scientific only if it is consistent with some but not other possible states of affairs not yet observed, so that it is subject to the possibility of falsification by reference to experience. Darwin occupies an exalted place in the history of Western thought, deservedly receiving credit for the theory of evolution. In The Origin of Species, he laid out the evidence demonstrating the evolution of organisms. More important yet is that he discovered natural selection, the process that accounts for the adaptations of organisms and their complexity and diversification. Natural selection and other causal processes of evolution are investigated by formulating and testing hypotheses. Darwin advanced hypotheses in multiple fields, including geology, plant morphology and physiology, psychology, and evolution, and subjected them to severe empirical tests.