Scientific Epistemology and Geologic Principles Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards based on lecture notes covering scientific epistemology, methods of acquiring knowledge, and geologic principles like uniformitarianism and tidal rhythmites.

Epistemology

The philosophical branch that explores how we know what we know.

Direct observation

The primary method by which science accepts a phenomenon as true, performed either unaided or using aids such as telescopes, microscopes, and mass spectrometers.

Scientific theory

The pinnacle of scientific believability, representing a hypothesis that has survived many independent tests, though it cannot be proven 100% absolutely true.

Inductive approach

A scientific method where one observes a phenomenon, creates a hypothesis that makes predictions, tests predictions via observation and experiment, and refines the hypothesis based on results.

Deductive approach

A scientific method where a theorist postulates a theory first (often through thought experiments) and then creates testable predictions to be verified by observation and experiment.

Cosmological constant

A fudge factor introduced by Albert Einstein into his theory of relativity to force his equations to show a fixed-size universe, which he later called the biggest blunder of his life.

Uniformitarianism

The principle that processes observed today were active in years past, and the effects of today's processes are similar to the effects of those same processes in the past ('the present is the key to the past').

Tidal rhythmite

A sedimentary rock exhibiting rhythmic banding of alternating thick and thin layers deposited by daily high tides, which can be used to track ancient lunar orbits and Earth's rotational speed.

Neap tides

Tides that occur during periods of lesser variation between high and low tide, depositing the thinner layers in a tidal rhythmite.

Spring tides

Tides that occur during periods of large changes between high and low tide, depositing the thicker layers in a tidal rhythmite.