What, then, is the pattern of scientific reasoning and discovery? We have seen that inductivism and all other prediction-centred theories of knowledge are based on a misconception. What we need is an explanation-centred theory of knowledge: a theory of how explanations come into being and how they are justified; a theory of how, why and when we should allow our perceptions to change our world-view. Once we have such a theory, we need no separate theory of predictions. For, given an explanation of some observable phenomenon, it is no mystery how one obtains predictions. And if one has justified
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