Scientific method books
Scientific method books to start from. Open one to see books like it, or tell BookSense what you loved for four picks made for you.
Start here
New to the genre? These 5 are the books to read first.
The Logic of Scientific Discovery
Karl PopperIntroduces falsifiability as the criterion separating testable scientific claims from untestable ones. The English edition appeared in 1959.
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Thomas S. KuhnDescribes normal science, paradigms and revolutionary change, and argues that theory change is not simply cumulative testing.
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
David HumeStates the problem of induction: past observations do not logically justify predictions about unobserved cases.
Against Method
Paul K. FeyerabendArgues that no single method fits the history of science and that methodological rules were often broken in successful work.
Theory and Reality
Peter Godfrey-SmithA clear introductory survey of the main problems, including induction, confirmation, realism and the role of models.
Chosen and described with AI from our notes on the genre.
More scientific method books
- Philosophy of Natural Science
Philosophy of Natural ScienceCarl Gustav Hempel - Novum Organum
Novum OrganumFrancis Bacon - A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive
A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and InductiveJohn Stuart Mill - Fact, Fiction and Forecast
Fact, Fiction and ForecastNelson Goodman - Error and the Growth of Experimental Knowledge
Error and the Growth of Experimental KnowledgeDeborah G. Mayo - The Scientific Image
The Scientific ImageBas C. Van Fraassen - Representing and Intervening
Representing and InterveningIan Hacking - Science as Social Knowledge
Science as Social KnowledgeHelen E. Longino - Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica
Philosophiae Naturalis Principia MathematicaSir Isaac Newton - The Demon-Haunted World
The Demon-Haunted WorldCarl Sagan1995 - Discourse on the method of rightly conducting the reason, an
Discourse on the method of rightly conducting the reason, and seeking truth in the sciencesRené Descartes1644 - Conjectures and refutations
Conjectures and refutationsKarl Popper1962