The Logical Method of Science

Abstract

The necessity of assumed postulates as bases for every conclusion of human thought is illustrated by C. S. Peirce's four methods of fixing belief. By the logic of science, basic assumptions are adopted consciously as working postulates; they find justification in their workability and not in any fancied universality or necessity. Hypothetic inference, the unique tool of scientific logic, is not self-sufficient, but relies on both induction and deduction. The deductive phase of scientific procedure is often overlooked, which oversight may become a temptation to dogmatism; likewise, induction is frequently relied on to play more than its legitimate role, that of carrying the investigator to the stage of hypothesis. The logic of science pursues a method that is little more than an elaboration of the method of common sense. Mr. Bryan's quarrel with science is at heart a conflict between Aristotelian logic and the logic of science, a fact which scientists themselves have been slow to grasp. An appeal to the lo...