The Form of the Experimental Paper: A Realization of the Myth of Induction

Abstract

The experimental paper is conventionally organized into four sections: Introduction, Methods and Materials, Results, and Discussion. Why these particular sections? Why this particular order? My answer is that the experimental paper is an instantiation of a myth that induction is philosophically unproblematic, that it can lead unproblematically to reliable knowledge about the natural world. Because induction as a path to reliable knowledge is, in fact, problematic, scientists need to retain this myth to continue to do science undeterred by doubts concerning the value of their task.