Four Rules of Scientific Reasoning from Principia Mathematica ?

When we hear counterarguments to things like climate science and vaccines (deniers of science essentially), we must always ask for evidence supporting that counterargument. Newton laid out this approach in his book Principia.

Newton included at the beginning of Book 3 (in the second (1713) and third (1726) editions) a section entitled "Rules of Reasoning in Philosophy." In the four rules, as they finally came to stand in the 1726 edition, Newton effectively offers a methodology for handling unknown phenomena in nature and reaching explanations for them.

The four Rules of the 1726 edition run as follows (omitting some explanatory comments that follow each): Sir Isaac Newton was a significant contributor to the Scientific Revolution. Newton believed that scientific theory should be coupled with rigorous experimentation, and he published four rules of scientific reasoning in Principia Mathematica that form part of modern approaches to science:

• Rule 1 We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances.
• Rule 2 Therefore, to the same natural effects, we must, as far as possible, assign the same causes.
• Rule 3 The qualities of bodies, which admit neither intensification nor remission of degrees and which are found to belong to all bodies within the reach of our experiments, are to be esteemed the universal qualities of all bodies whatsoever.
• Rule 4 In experimental philosophy, we are to look upon propositions inferred by general induction from phenomena as accurately or very nearly true, notwithstanding any contrary hypothesis that may be imagined till other phenomena occur, by which they may either be made more accurate or liable to exceptions.

Newton’s rules of scientific reasoning have proved remarkably enduring. His first rule is now commonly called the principle of parsimony and states that the simplest explanation is generally the most likely. The second rule essentially means that special interpretations of data should not be used if a reasonable explanation already exists. The third rule suggests that explanations of phenomena determined through scientific investigation should apply to all instances of that phenomenon. Finally, the fourth rule lays the philosophical foundation of modern scientific theories, which are held to be true unless demonstrated otherwise. This is not to say that theories are accepted without evidence, nor that they can’t change – theories are built upon long lines of evidence, often from multiple pieces of research, and they are subject to change as that evidence grows.

Newton needed to be dealing with philosophy as we think of it today. He was laying down some basic principles for physics that seemed reasonable and necessary to understand his laws.

The first rule was to eliminate any unnecessary aspect of a theory that is optional as necessary. Thus, God, angels, and demons play no part in Newton's physics.

Neither do the bodies at rest or motion desire to rest or be in motion, an idea popular in his day.

The second rule was to simplify further that if we observe effect B, it would have been caused by cause-effect A, simply because we have determined in the past that A causes B.

The third rule is a declaration that location is unimportant in physics because laws operating on Earth will be the same as those operating with the heavenly bodies, stars, and planets. This is a declaration of the universality of the laws of physics.

The fourth rule means that any law of physics is open to future correction or improvement, and Newton's laws are not to be inferred as being absolute or unconditional. All in all, Newton did reasonably well, considering the superstitiousness of his fellow "philosophers."

3 Rules of Science

1. Falsifiability - it's only science if it can be used to make a prediction and have that prediction turn out to be wrong. That’s what it means to test something experimentally. A scientific hypothesis generates measurable predictions. The requirement of falsifiability means your hypothesis must also survive rigorous attempts to find examples of the wrong predictions. This means an established scientific theory is simply one that hasn't been disproven – yet!
2. Replicability - Not only does a scientific theory have to be testable, it’s got to be a test anyone can repeat and get the same results.
3. Correlation is not Causation - In combination with confirmation bias, the fallacy has a huge potential to mislead. So science has this one big important rule that just because something is correlated with something else doesn’t mean it caused that something else. Maybe it did... But let’s go seek some disconfirming evidence first.

? "Four Rules of Scientific Reasoning from Principia Mathematica," https://apex.ua.edu/uploads/2/8/7/3/28731065/four_rules_of_reasoning_apex_website.pdf