Revisions in the Traditional View of Science The traditional view is that science involves empirical observation, theory formulation, theory testing, theory revision, prediction, control, the search for lawful relationships, and the assumption of determinism. Some prominent philosophers of science, however, take issue with at least some aspects of the traditional view of science. Among them are Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn.
observed relationship between two or more classes of empirical events. For example, when X occurs, Y also tends to occur. By stressing lawfulness, sci- ence is proclaiming an interest in the general case rather than the particular case. Traditionally, sci- ence is not interested in private or unique events but in general laws that can be publicly observed and verified. That is, a scientific law is general and, because it describes a relationship between empir- ical events, it is amenable to public observation. The concept of public observation is an important aspect of science. All scientific claims must be ver- ifiable by any interested person. In science, there is no secret knowledge available only to qualified authorities.