ABSTRACT
One reason for wanting a theory of scientific method is so that we can ascertain whether scientific knowledge is justified and, if so, what its limits are. This may be important for interpreting scientific results about whether there is a risk associated with eating certain foods or releasing genetically engineered organisms into the environment. It may also be important for evaluating whether scientists’ theories about the origin of the universe or the nature of matter are true or merely good guides to what we observe. Even if scientific theories, such as Newtonian mechanics, are recognised by all sides to be extremely reliable for predicting all kinds of phenomena, it remains an open question whether our best scientific theories also accurately describe unobservable entities that cause what we observe.
