God Arises
The Method of Argument
~ 71 ~
The distinguished physicist, Robert Morris Page,
makes the important point that the “test of an
hypothesis involves the establishment of conditions
consistent with the hypothesis to produce results
predicted by the hypothesis
on the assumption that
the hypothesis is true.
” He then goes on to narrate an
incident which clearly bears this out:
When ships were built of wood because it was
commonly believed that in order to float, they
had to be built of materials lighter than water,
the proposition was made that ships could be
built of iron and still float. A certain
blacksmith stated that ships built of iron
could not float because iron would not float,
and he proved his point by tossing a
horseshoe into a tub of water. His assumption
that the hypothesis was untrue foreclosed the
possibility of his devising an experiment
consistent with the hypothesis, which might
have produced the result, predicted by the
hypothesis. Had he assumed the hypothesis to
be true, he would have tossed an iron
washbasin into the tub of water instead of an
iron horseshoe.
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