Science Checks, Tests, and Corrects Itself
- The strength of science lies in the way it builds trust in knowledge despite uncertainty.
- This reliability comes from the systems it uses to test, filter, and revise claims.
- This makes it have a unique claim to reliability compared to other Areas of Knowledge, where authority comes less from tradition or belief, and more from method and community checks.
Hypotheses Show Science Is Built To Be Falsifiable
Definition
Hypothesis
A testable statement or prediction that can be supported or refuted through evidence.
- Scientific research begins with a problem or question.
- To approach it systematically, scientists form a hypothesis, a clear, testable prediction about what they expect to find.
- The value of a hypothesis is that it can be disproven and if the evidence contradicts the prediction, the hypothesis must be revised or abandoned.
- This makes it different to religious or artistic knowledge claims because though meaningful it cannot usually be proven wrong.
If science deliberately avoids certainty, why do societies often treat scientific knowledge as absolute?
Hint- This links directly to TOK’s core concept of certainty.
- Scientific claims are always provisional, designed to be overturned if evidence requires it.
Peer Review Shows How Communities Shape Knowledge
- Scientific trust doesn’t come from a single knower.
- Peer review places individual work into the hands of a community that checks methods, results, and logic.
- This results in a process that's social, where knowledge only becomes “scientific” when others agree it meets shared standards.
- This reflects the shared vs. personal knowledge distinction.
- An idea in your notebook is personal.
- Once tested, reviewed, and accepted by others, it becomes shared scientific knowledge.
