A hypothesis is a multifaceted concept. In determining it, it is important to take into account that in different areas of thought and activity its content is different. This is because any objective view from a certain activity or thought on a defined object (in this case, the object is the semantic field of the concept of “hypothesis”) is only a partial focus dictated by the content of the object. There is no and cannot be a single definition that would integrate a universal view from all subject sides.
At the same time, a completely routine and legitimate procedure in logic is a multiple characteristic of an object sequentially from different subject areas according to the principle of complementarity. Only it makes it possible to define concepts based on multi-subjective descriptions.
Hypothesis in the simplest sense
In everyday language, a hypothesis is a thesis assumption. He is put forward to explain certain phenomena whose understanding is not sufficient.
In a more general, but also commonplace understanding, a hypothesis is a proposition that needs to be confirmed or disproved.
Hypothesis in the most generalized sense
According to the Encyclopedic Dictionary, a hypothesis is a statement-assumption about the laws and causality that connect all phenomena. In a narrower understanding, a hypothesis is called the developing factor of science.
Hypothesis in psychology
From the point of view of psychology, a hypothesis is a cognitive tool that is built by the psyche, if necessary, to orient activities, and for this to assume and distinguish its various properties in the surrounding world. The subjective picture of the world, which varies among each individual, determines these assumptions and differences.
If an individual does not have a ready-made solution to a problem, he first forms one or more of the most general hypotheses. Their verification makes it possible to stimulate search activity, enriching activity and thinking with new assumptions aimed more accurately.
It is noteworthy that general hypotheses do not necessarily lie in the field of theory and are not necessarily its concepts. The subject can put forward hypotheses and determine their nature in an intuitive action, in which the logical foundations of the assumptions themselves are not subjected to reflexive research.
This possibility, in particular, is based on the well-known technology of “brainstorming” - group problem solving, in which process participants put forward instant hypotheses without first understanding them. And only a subsequent analysis of the entire array of advanced assumptions provides material for solving the problem.
Hypothesis in logic
A hypothesis in logic is a preliminary, conditional explanation aimed at a certain group of phenomena or an individual phenomenon. This is a supposed proposition about the presence or absence of a phenomenon.
It can be addressed to the future and past of an object, its connections and properties, the reasons for its birth.
The basis for the hypothesis is a very definite knowledge of the phenomena that are being studied. Put forward on the basis of this knowledge, the hypothesis imitates a guiding principle that directs and corrects the continuation of experiments and observations.
The very phenomenon of scientific knowledge contains a hypothesis as a necessary link.
The hypothesis is neither true nor false. It represents knowledge of a hypothetical, probabilistic nature, which has not received logical proof. It cannot be considered reliable, since it is not confirmed by experience, unless it is a question of a false hypothesis (see below).
The hypothesis is vague; its place is not a lie or truth, but somewhere between them.
If the hypothesis can be confirmed, it becomes true and at the same time loses the status of itself.
If the hypothesis is disproved, then it loses its status all the more, but it acquires the significance of a false statement.
Hypothesis in Science of Science
A scientific hypothesis is a research tool that makes it possible to put forward, confirm or refute in the language of science itself its clearly defined problems. This is necessary in order to explain new evidence and, after careful study, to eliminate possible contradictions between them.
Thus, using hypotheses, the contradiction between theory and negative experimental results is resolved.
Types of Hypotheses
The assumptions underlying scientific hypotheses vary in their degree of generalization.
In accordance with the assumptions, the scientific hypotheses themselves differ in the degree of generalization.
They are:
The general hypothesis is assumptions about how nature and society are structured, and also according to what laws the mental activity of people proceeds.
These assumptions must be scientifically based.
General hypotheses, in their nomination, require a number of conditions to be met in order to correspond to their logical status. They have to:
- Explain the whole class of described phenomena;
- to deduce the regular nature of the described objects in their relationship for any time and for any place.
A particular hypothesis is assumptions about how objects are constructed, selected as part of more general classes of natural phenomena, mental and activity phenomena, or facts of society.
As for the general hypothesis, private assumptions must be scientifically substantiated.
A single hypothesis is an assumption about the construction of a particular fact, a specific event or phenomenon.
Working hypothesis
Proving a single, partial or general hypothesis, a reasoner has the right to build a series of auxiliary assumptions that are not an investigation of causal or other patterns of an object. Such hypotheses are called working hypotheses and can be repeatedly refuted, often replaced, until they are completely restructured or even abandoned.
A false hypothesis , which is a special case of a working hypothesis, is put forward only as an assumption, without the obligatory intention to refute or confirm it.
The author of a false hypothesis does not know and does not try to find out whether it is true or false. From the moment he was nominated, he faithfully believes in its truth.
This hypothesis is called the main error. Contrary to popular belief, it can be quite useful. As it rebuts, it helps build new working hypotheses.