See also:

• HYPOTHESIS (from Gr. inrorcOivat, to put under; cf. Lat. suppositio, from sub-ponere)

HYPOTHESIS (from Gr. inrorcOivat, to put under; cf. See also:

• LAT

Lat. suppositio, from sub-ponere)  , in See also:

• ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

ordinary See also:

• LANGUAGE (adapted from the Fr. langage, from langue, tongue, Lat. lingua)

language, an explanation, supposition or See also:

• ASSUMPTION, FEAST OF

assumption, which is put forward in the See also:

• ABSENCE (Lat. absentia)

absence of ascertained facts or causes . Both in ordinary See also:

• LIFE

life and in the acquisition of scientific knowledge See also:

• HYPOTHESIS (from Gr. inrorcOivat, to put under; cf. Lat. suppositio, from sub-ponere)

hypothesis is all-important . A detective's See also:

• WORK

work consists largely in forming and testing hypothesis . If an astronomer is confronted by some phenomenon which has no obvious explanation he may postulate some set of conditions which from his See also:

• GENERAL
• GENERAL (Lat. generalis, of or relating to a genus, kind or class)

general knowledge of the subject would or might give rise to the phenomenon in question; he then tests his hypothesis until he discovers whether it doesor does not conflict with the facts . An example of this See also:

• PROCESS

process is that of the See also:

• DISCOVERY

discovery of the See also:

• PLANET (Gr. ssXavirrns, a wanderer)

planet See also:

• NEPTUNE
• NEPTUNE (Lat. NEPTUNUS)

Neptune: certain perturbations of the See also:

• ORBIT (from Lat. orbita, a track, orbis, a wheel)

orbit of See also:

• URANUS
• URANUS (Heaven)

Uranus had been observed, and it was seen that these could be explained on the hypothesis of the existence of a then unknown planet, and this hypothesis was verified by actual observation . The progress of inductive knowledge is by the formation of successive hypotheses, and it frequently happens that the demolition of one or even many hypotheses is the See also:

• DIRECT

direct road to a new and accurate hypothesis, i.e. to fresh knowledge . A hypothesis may, therefore, turn out to be entirely wrong, yet it may be of the greatest See also:

• PRACTICAL

practical use . The recognition of the importance of hypotheses has led to various attempts at See also:

• DRAWING

drawing up exact rules for their formation, but logicians are generally agreed that only very elementary principles can be laid down . Thus a hypothesis must contain nothing which is at variance with known facts or principles: it should not postulate conditions which cannot be verified empirically . J . S . See also:

• MILL
• MILL (O. Eng. mylen, later myln, or miln, adapted from the late Lat. molina, cf. Fr. moulin, from Lat. mola, a mill, molere, to grind; from the same root, mol, is derived " meal;" the word appears in other Teutonic languages, cf. Du. molen, Ger. muhle)
• MILL, JAMES (1773-1836)
• MILL, JOHN (c. 1645–1707)
• MILL, JOHN STUART (1806-1873)

Mill (See also:

• LOGIC (Xoy1K7, sc. rixvrt, the art of reasoning)

Logic III. xiv .

4) laid down the principle that a hypothesis is not " genuinely scientific " if it is " destined always to remain a hypothesis ": it must " be of such a nature as to be either proved or disproved by comparison with observed facts ": in the same spirit See also:

• BACON
• BACON (through the O. Fr. bacon, Low Lat. baco, from a Teutonic word cognate with " back," e.g. O. H. Ger. pacho, M. H. Ger. backe, buttock, flitch of bacon)
• BACON, FRANCIS (BARON VERULAM, VISCOUNT ST ALBANS) (1561-1626)
• BACON, JOHN (1740–1799)
• BACON, LEONARD (1802–1881)
• BACON, ROGER (c. 1214-c. 1294)
• BACON, SIR NICHOLAS (1509-1579)

Bacon said that in searching for causes in nature " Deum See also:

• SEMPER, GOTTFRIED (1803–1879)

semper excipimus." Mill's principle, though See also:

• SOUND
• SOUND, THE (Danish Oresund)

sound in the abstract, has, except in a few cases, little practical value in determining the admissibility of hypotheses, and in practice any See also:

• RULE

rule which tends to discourage hypothesis is in general undesirable . The most satisfactory check on hypothesis is See also:

• EXPERT (Lat. expertus, from experiri, to try)

expert knowledge in the particular See also:

• FIELD (a word common to many West German languages, cf. Ger. Feld, Dutch veld, possibly cognate with O.E. f olde, the earth, and ultimately with root of the Gr. irAaror, broad)
• FIELD, CYRUS WEST (1819-1892)
• FIELD, DAVID DUDLEY (18o5-1894)
• FIELD, EUGENE (1850-1895)
• FIELD, FREDERICK (18o1—1885)
• FIELD, HENRY MARTYN (1822-1907)
• FIELD, JOHN (1782—1837)
• FIELD, MARSHALL (183 1906)
• FIELD, NATHAN (1587—1633)
• FIELD, STEPHEN JOHNSON (1816-1899)
• FIELD, WILLIAM VENTRIS FIELD, BARON (1813-1907)

field of See also:

• RESEARCH (O. Fr. recerche, from recercher, re- and cercer, mod. chercher, to search; Late Lat. circare, to go round in a circle, to explore)

research by which rigorous tests may be applied . This test is roughly of two kinds, first by the ultimate principles or presuppositions on which a particular See also:

• BRANCH (from the Fr. branche, late Lat. branca, an animal's paw)

branch of knowledge rests, and second by the comparison of correlative facts . Useful See also:

• LIGHT

light is See also:

• SHED

shed on this distinction by See also:

• LOTZE, RUDOLF HERMANN (1817-1881)

Lotze, who contrasts (Logic, § 273) postulates (" absolutely necessary assumptions without which the content of the observation with which we are dealing would contradict the See also:

• LAWS

laws of our thought ") with hypotheses, which he defines as conjectures, which seek " to fill up the postulate thus abstractly stated by specifying the See also:

• CONCRETE
• CONCRETE (Lat. concretes, participle of concrescere, to grow together)

concrete causes, forces or processes, out of which the given phenomenon really arose in this particular See also:

• CASE
• CASE, JOHN (d. 1600)

case, while in other cases maybe the same postulate is to be satisfied by utterly different though See also:

• EQUIVALENT

equivalent combinations of forces or active elements." Thus a hypothesis may be ruled out by principles or postulates without any reference to the concrete facts which belong to that See also:

• DIVISION (from Lat. dividere, to break up into parts, separate)

division of the subject to explain which the hypothesis is formulated . A true hypothesis, therefore, seeks not merely to connect or colligate two See also:

• SEPARATE

separate facts, but to do this in the light of and subject to certain fundamental principles . Various attempts have been made to classify hypotheses and to distinguish " hypothesis " from a " theory " or a See also:

• MERE
• MERE, ADALBERT (1838-1909)

mere " conjecture ": none of these have any See also:

• GREAT

great practical importance, the See also:

• DIFFERENCES, CALCULUS OF (Theory of Finite Differences)

differences being only in degree, not in See also:

• KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind . The See also:

• ADJECTIVE (from the Lat. adjectives, added)

adjective " hypothetical " is used, in the same sense, both loosely in contradistinction to " real " or " actual," and technically in the phrases " hypothetical See also:

• JUDGMENT

judgment " and " hypothetical See also:

• SYLLOGISM (Gr. ovAAoytvµos, from en', and Xb-yor, an argument resulting from combination, i.e. of premises)

syllogism." (See LOGIC and SYLLOGISM.) See Naville, La Logique de l'hypothbse (188o), and textbooks of logic, e.g. those of See also:

• JEVONS, WILLIAM STANLEY (1835-1882)

Jevons, Bosanquet, See also:

• JOSEPH
• JOSEPH, COMTE DE (1785-1870)
• JOSEPH, FATHER (FRANCOIS LECLERC DU TREMBLAY) (1577-1638)

Joseph; Liebmann, Der Klimax d . Theorien .