# Problem Solving Process The problem solving process applies to all problem-solving, whatever the subject matter or techniques of rational criticism that are involved.  1. **Problem**: We start with a [Problem](Problem.md). Note that even determining a problem is a *creative* process. 2. **Conjecture**: To solve a problem one must find new or amended theories, containing explanations that retain the merits, but do not have the deficiencies, of existing explanations. This stage always requires *conjecture*. Conjecture is really just a "guess". 3. **Criticism**: The conjectures are then *criticized*. A rational criticism entails examining and comparing the conjecture and existing theory to see which offers the best explanation, according the *criterion* inherent in the problem. 4. **Replace Erroneous Theories**: When a conjectured theory fails to survive criticism - that is when it appears to offer worse explanations than other theories do - it is abandoned. If we find ourselves abandoning one of our originally held theories in favor of one of the newly proposed ones, we tentatively deem our problem-solving enterprise to have made progress. 5. **New Problem**: I say 'tentatively', because subsequent problem-solving will probably involve altering or replacing even these new, apparently satisfactory theories, and sometimes even resurrecting some of the apparently unsatisfactory ones. Thus the solution, however good, is not the end of the story: it is a starting- point for the next problem-solving process. This illustrates another one of the misconceptions behind [inductivism](Induction.md). In science the object of the exercise is not to find a theory that will, or is likely to, be deemed true for ever; it is to find the best theory available now, and if possible to improve on all available theories. A scientific argument is intended to persuade us that a given [Explanation](Explanations.md) is the best one available. It does not and could not say anything about how that explanation will fare when, in the future, it is subjected to new types of criticism and compared with explanations that have yet to be invented. A good explanation may make good predictions about the future, but the one thing that no explanation can even begin to predict is the content or quality of its own future rivals. How is this process [Justified](Justification.md)? Never forget, [Explanations Are Justified By Their Superior Ability to Solve Problems They Address](Explanations%20Are%20Justified%20By%20Their%20Superior%20Ability%20to%20Solve%20Problems%20They%20Address.md). --- Date: 20241018 Links to: [Fabric of Reality](Fabric%20of%20Reality.md) pg 64, [3 - Problem Solving](3%20-%20Problem%20Solving.md) [Problem Driven Epistemology](Problem%20Driven%20Epistemology.md) Tags: References: * []()