Based on your understanding of the ideas of external consistency and fruitfulness, which of the following statements best describes the relevance of these ideas to the acceptance of hypotheses? 1. A fruitful hypothesis is considered stronger because fruitful hypotheses are always externally consistent with previously held theories
2. A fruitful hypothesis is considered stronger because fruitful hypotheses promote scientific progress by revealing new avenues of research and analysis
3. An adequate theory is always a fruitful theory
4. AB internally coherent theories are fruitful.
Which of the following scenarios best demonstrates the idea of fruitfulness?
1. The fundamental rules of quantum mechanics were established during the first half of the twentieth century by numerous scientists to deal with atomic and subatomic systems. Today, quantum mechanics provides the underlying mathematical framework of many fields of physics, including condensed matter physics, solid state physics, and nuclear physics
2. While both Einstein's theory of general relativity and quantum theory are indisputably supported by empirical evidence, scientists have as yet been unable to incorporate both of them within one cohesive model
3. The predictions of quantum mechanics correspond to the predictions of the classical theories of physics when the quantum theory is used to describe the behavior of systems that can be successfully described by classical theories
4. Ordinantly, quantum mechanics is used to describe the behavior of bodies that are so smal that they cannot be seen under an optical microscope, while the theories of classical physics we used to analyze the behavior of large-scale bodies.