Internal Coherence Four criteria bear on the question of the tentative acceptability of a hypothesis: adequacy, internal coherence, external consistency, and fruitfulness. Internal coherence refers to the criterion that a hypothesis must be internally coherent in order to be accepted as a tentative hypothesis. This means that its component ideas must be rationally interconnected. Each part of the hypothesis must relate to, and not contradict, the other parts of the hypothesis. You should note that it is possible for a scientific theory to be internally coherent and yet incompatible with observed phenomena. Although such a theory would be internally coherent, it would fail to meet the other criteria for a tentatively acceptable scientific theory, such as external consistency. This means that internal coherence is necessary but not sufficient for the tentative acceptability of a scientific theory. Use your knowledge about internal coherence to answer the following questions. Based on your understanding of the idea of internal coherence, which of the following statements appropriately describe the internal coherence of a hypothesis?

a. Adequacy is more important to the strength of a scientific hypothesis than internal coherence.
b. Internal coherence is important because if a theory has internal inconsistencies, then its assumptions cannot all be correct.
c. Internal coherence is one of the criteria for the tentative acceptance of hypotheses.
d. Internal coherence demonstrates the rational relationship between parts of a hypothesis.