Study Guide: Concept 6 — The Positive Heuristic

Core Concept

The programme's battle plan: a pre-scheduled sequence of increasingly realistic models. Anomalies of crude stages are foreseen and queued — scientists rationally ignore most refutations because the plan already books them.

Key Terms

Positive heuristic · model sequence · relative autonomy of theory · planned idealization-lifting

Case Summary

Newton's curriculum: point-sun → multiple planets → extended bodies → spinning spheroids → tides. Each stage known-false in advance; each failure scheduled.

Application Checklist

• [ ] Draft your model sequence: which assumption does each version lift?
• [ ] List anomalies the plan already schedules — stop reacting to them
• [ ] Date the last problem your plan (vs your bug tracker) generated

Self-Test

1. Why aren't programme scientists paralyzed by anomalies?
2. Roadmap vs backlog in Lakatosian terms?
3. What happens when the heuristic runs out?