Darwin and the scientific method

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 106; no. Supplement 1; pp. 10033 - 10039
• Main Author: Ayala, Francisco J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 16.06.2009; National Acad Sciences
• Series: Colloquium Papers
• Subjects: Animals; Biological adaptation; Biological Evolution; Biology - history; Biology - methods; Colloquium Papers; Darvin Charles; Darwin, Charles (1809-1882); DNA; Empirical evidence; Empirical knowledge; Empiricism; Evolution; Evolution & development; Evolutionary biology; Evolutionary theories; geology; History, 19th Century; Humans; Hypothesis testing; Natural selection; physiology; Plant morphology; Portraits as Topic; prediction; psychology; Scientific method; Scientific observation

There is a contradiction between Darwin's methodology and how he described it for public consumption. Darwin claimed that he proceeded "on true Baconian [inductive] principles and without any theory collected facts on a wholesale scale." He also wrote, "How odd it is that anyone...