A hypothesis (from Greek ὑπόθεσις) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. The term derives from the Greek, ὑποτιθέναι – hypotithenai meaning "to put under" or "to suppose." For a hypothesis to be put forward as a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous observations that cannot satisfactorily be explained with the available scientific theories. Even though the words "hypothesis" and "theory" are often used synonymously in common and informal usage, a scientific hypothesis is not the same as a scientific theory. A working hypothesis is a provisionally accepted theory.
Scientific hypothesis: People refer to a trial solution to a problem as a hypothesis (often called an "educated guess") because it provides a suggested solution based on the evidence. Experimenters may test and reject several hypotheses before solving the problem.
According to Schick and Vaughn, researchers weighing up alternative hypotheses may take into consideration:
Scientific hypothesis: People refer to a trial solution to a problem as a hypothesis (often called an "educated guess") because it provides a suggested solution based on the evidence. Experimenters may test and reject several hypotheses before solving the problem.
According to Schick and Vaughn, researchers weighing up alternative hypotheses may take into consideration:
- Testability (or falsifiability; the claim "No human lives forever" is not falsifiable since it does not seem possible to prove wrong. On the other hand, "All humans live forever" is falsifiable since the presentation of just one dead human could prove the statement wrong)
- Simplicity (as in the application of "Occam's razor"; a principle that generally recommends selecting the competing hypothesis that makes the fewest new assumptions, when the hypotheses are equal in other respects
- Scope; the apparent application of the hypothesis to multiple cases of phenomena
- Fruitfulness; the prospect that a hypothesis may explain further phenomena in the future
- Conservatism; the degree of "fit" with existing recognized knowledge-systems.
Albert Einstein on the physical concepts and ‘objective truth’
“Physical concepts are free creations of the human mind, and are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external world. In our endeavor to understand reality we are somewhat like a man trying to understand the mechanism of a closed watch. He sees the face and the moving hands, even hears its ticking, but he has no way of opening the case. If he is ingenious he may form some picture of a mechanism which could be responsible for all the things he observes, but he may never be quite sure his picture is the only one which could explain his observations.
He will never be able to compare his picture with the real mechanism and he cannot even imagine the possibility or the meaning of such a comparison.
The Evolution of Physics (1938) (co-written with Leopold Infeld)
He will never be able to compare his picture with the real mechanism and he cannot even imagine the possibility or the meaning of such a comparison.
The Evolution of Physics (1938) (co-written with Leopold Infeld)