Here, then, in short, is the iron rule: 1. Strive to settle all arguments by empirical testing. 2. To conduct an empirical test to decide between a pair of hypotheses, perform an experiment or measurement, one of whose possible outcomes can be explained by one hypothesis (and accompanying cohort) but not the other. There lies the nub of the scientific method and so, once its subtleties have been spelled out in the chapters to come, the denouement of the Great Method Debate.
