The classical or traditional scientific method concerned with the deduction of hypotheses, and first referred to as such by the polymath William Whewell (1794-1866). Hypotheses are formulated in terms of postulates and then tested using logical deductions, followed by testing them through controlled experiments. When new facts or principles are discovered, the hypothesis may be revised by modifying the postulates. The best-known example of using the method is the way in which Newton arrived at his theory of classical mechanics. In psychology, it is associated with the efforts of Clark L. Hull (1884-1952) to develop a systematic theory of learning.
See Abstract reasoning, Deduction, Deductive-nomological (D-N) model, Hypothesis, Induction (philosophy), Logical reasoning, Method, Newtonian (or classical) mechanics, Theory