Georgia L. Sutherland

A Heuristic Program for Solving A Scientific Inference Problem: Summary of Motivation and Implementation

The “scientific method” involves two very different kinds of intelligent behavior, sometimes called induction and deduction respectively. A theory is somehow “induced”, sometimes out of sheer speculation, in order to account for some hitherto baffling or provocative observations of nature. Then, the theory is applied deductively, i.e., logically or mathematically rigorous conclusions are made. If the theory is true, then certain results must be obtained. Philosophers of science are now generally agreed that a theory can never be proven or logically derived from factual data. We accept a theory as true when it has made some new predictions, different from the predictions of other theories, which survive the test of experimental measurement.