In science and philosophy, an ad hoc hypothesis is a hypothesis added to a theory in order to save it from being falsified. Often, ad hoc hypothesizing is employed to compensate for anomalies not anticipated by the theory in its unmodified form.
If someone wants to believe in leprechauns, they can avoid ever being proven wrong by using ad hoc hypotheses (e.g., by adding "they are invisible", then "their motives are complex", and so on).[1]
Scientists are often skeptical of theories that rely on frequent, unsupported adjustments to sustain them. This is because, if a theorist so chooses, there is no limit to the number of ad hoc hypotheses that they could add. Thus the theory becomes more and more complex, but is never falsified. This is often at a cost to the theory's predictive power, however.[1]Ad hoc hypotheses are often characteristic of pseudoscientific subjects.[2][better source needed]
An ad hoc hypothesis is not necessarily incorrect; in some cases, a minor change to a theory was all that was necessary. For example, Albert Einstein's addition of the cosmological constant to general relativity in order to allow a static universe was ad hoc. Although he later referred to it as his "greatest blunder", it may correspond to theories of dark energy.[3]
hypothesis, other, uses, disambiguation, science, philosophy, hypothesis, hypothesis, added, theory, order, save, from, being, falsified, often, hypothesizing, employed, compensate, anomalies, anticipated, theory, unmodified, form, someone, wants, believe, lep. For other uses see Ad hoc disambiguation In science and philosophy an ad hoc hypothesis is a hypothesis added to a theory in order to save it from being falsified Often ad hoc hypothesizing is employed to compensate for anomalies not anticipated by the theory in its unmodified form If someone wants to believe in leprechauns they can avoid ever being proven wrong by using ad hoc hypotheses e g by adding they are invisible then their motives are complex and so on 1 Contents 1 In the scientific community 2 See also 3 References 4 External linksIn the scientific community EditScientists are often skeptical of theories that rely on frequent unsupported adjustments to sustain them This is because if a theorist so chooses there is no limit to the number of ad hoc hypotheses that they could add Thus the theory becomes more and more complex but is never falsified This is often at a cost to the theory s predictive power however 1 Ad hoc hypotheses are often characteristic of pseudoscientific subjects 2 better source needed An ad hoc hypothesis is not necessarily incorrect in some cases a minor change to a theory was all that was necessary For example Albert Einstein s addition of the cosmological constant to general relativity in order to allow a static universe was ad hoc Although he later referred to it as his greatest blunder it may correspond to theories of dark energy 3 See also EditAd hoc Fringe science Russell s teapot Deferent and epicycle Bad science No true Scotsman Special pleading The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Proofs and Refutations The Dragon in My Garage Paraconsistent logicReferences Edit a b Stanovich Keith E 2007 How to Think Straight About Psychology Boston Pearson Education Pages 19 33 Carroll Robert T Ad hoc hypothesis The Skeptic s Dictionary 22 Jun 2008 lt http skepdic com adhoc html gt Texas A amp M University Einstein s Biggest Blunder Dark Energy May Be Consistent With Cosmological Constant ScienceDaily 28 November 2007 22 June 2008 lt https www sciencedaily com releases 2007 11 071127142128 htm gt External links EditAd hoc hypothesis at PhilPapers This article about epistemology is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ad hoc hypothesis amp oldid 1053178885, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
