The Scientific Method

I have been hearing a lot of folks saying all sorts of silly things about the scientific process. They make claims like "It's a religeon, because you have to have faith it works." Rubbish. It neither requires or rejects faith. It simply works.

Science contains a few basic kinds of ideas:

1.) Observation. The simple fact of noticing something. The simple act of taking data and making notes. This is where science starts. Copernicus and Galileo observed things. So did the first human to make use of fire.

2.) Hypothesis. This is formulating an idea or an expression that attempts to explain an observation.

From the Wikki (and the Oxford English Dictionary): A hypothesis (from greek ὑπόθεσις) consists either of a suggested explanation for a phenomenon or of a reasoned proposal suggesting a possible correlation between multiple phenomena. The term derives from the Greek, hypotithenai meaning "to put under" or "to suppose."

The most important part of a hypothesis is that it must be testable.

3.) Theory. This is where a hypothesis is tested and is either falsified, and so is rejected, or is verified, and is on the way to becomming a scientific theory.

From the Wikki (and the Oxford English Dictionary): In science a theory is a testable model of the manner of interaction of a set of natural phenomenon, capable of predicting future occurrences or observations of the same kind, and capable of being tested through experiment or otherwise verified through empirical observation.

It must also be falsifiable.

The most important part is that the testability and falsifiability of a theory is also repeatable.

To conclude, we have 3 very sturdy legs upon which the scientific method rests.

1.) Testability.
2.) Falsifiability.
3.) Repeatability.

If an argument lacks any of these, it is *NOT* scientific.

Notice that God and Faith were not once called into question here nor were they required.