Argument vs Hypothesis - What's the difference?
argument | hypothesis |
A fact or statement used to support a proposition; a reason.
* Ray
A verbal dispute; a quarrel.
A process of reasoning.
* John Locke
(philosophy, logic) A series of propositions organized so that the final proposition is a conclusion which is intended to follow logically from the preceding propositions, which function as premises.
*
(mathematics) The independent variable of a function.
(programming) A value, or reference to a value, passed to a function.
* {{quote-web, date = 2011-07-20
, author = Edwin Mares
, title = Propositional Functions
, site = The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
, url = http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2011/entries/propositional-function
, accessdate = 2012-07-15 }}
(programming) A parameter in a function definition; an actual parameter, as opposed to a formal parameter.
(linguistics) Any of the phrases that bears a syntactic connection to the verb of a clause.
*
(astronomy) The quantity on which another quantity in a table depends.
The subject matter of a discourse, writing, or artistic representation; theme or topic; also, an abstract or summary, as of the contents of a book, chapter, poem.
* Shakespeare
* Jeffrey
* Milton
Matter for question; business in hand.
* Shakespeare
(sciences) Used loosely, a tentative conjecture explaining an observation, phenomenon or scientific problem that can be tested by further observation, investigation and/or experimentation. As a scientific term of art, see the attached quotation. Compare to theory, and quotation given there.
* 2005 , Ronald H. Pine, http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/intelligent_design_or_no_model_creationism, 15 October 2005:
(general) An assumption taken to be true for the purpose of argument or investigation.
(grammar) The antecedent of a conditional statement.
As nouns the difference between argument and hypothesis
is that argument is a fact or statement used to support a proposition; a reason while hypothesis is used loosely, a tentative conjecture explaining an observation, phenomenon or scientific problem that can be tested by further observation, investigation and/or experimentation. As a scientific term of art, see the attached quotation. Compare to theory, and quotation given there.argument
English
Noun
(en noun)- There is no more palpable and convincing argument of the existence of a Deity.
- The argument is not about things, but names.
- In ‘The Critic of Arguments’ (1892), Peirce adopts a notion that is even closer to that of a propositional function. There he develops the concept of the ‘rhema’. He says the rhema is like a relative term, but it is not a term. It contains a copula, that is, when joined to the correct number of arguments it produces an assertion. For example, ‘__ is bought by __ from __ for __’ is a four-place rhema. Applying it to four objects a'', ''b'', ''c'', and ''d'' produces the assertion that ''a'' is bought by ''b'' from ''c'' for ''d (ibid. 420).
- Parameters are like labeled fillable blanks used to define a function whereas arguments are passed to a function when calling it, filling in those blanks.
- In numerous works over the past two decades, beginning with the pioneering work of Gruber (1965), Fillmore (1968a), and Jackendoff (1972), it has been argued that each Argument' (i.e. Subject or Complement) of a Predicate bears a particular ''thematic role'' (alias ''theta-role'', or ''θ-role'' to its Predicate), and that the set of ''thematic functions'' which ' Arguments can fulfil are drawn from a highly restricted, finite, universal set.
- The altitude is the argument of the refraction.
- You and love are still my argument .
- the abstract or argument of the piece
- [shields] with boastful argument portrayed
- Sheathed their swords for lack of argument .
Usage notes
* (formal parameter in a function definition) Some authors regard use of "argument" to mean "formal parameter" to be imprecise, preferring that argument'' refers only to the value that is used to instantiate the ''parameter'' at runtime, while ''parameter refers only to the name in the function definition that will be instantiated.Synonyms
* (programming value) actual argument * See also * See alsoMeronyms
* (logic) proposition, premise, conclusionDerived terms
* ad hominem argument * argumentable * argumental * argumentation * argumentative * argumentatively * argumentativeness * argument form * argument from design * argumentive * argumentize * argumentless * cosmological argument * etymological argument * ontological argument * teleological argumentExternal links
* * ----hypothesis
English
(wikipedia hypothesis)Noun
(hypotheses)- Far too many of us have been taught in school that a scientist, in the course of trying to figure something out, will first come up with a "hypothesis" (a guess or surmise—not necessarily even an "educated" guess). ... [But t]he word "hypothesis" should be used, in science, exclusively for a reasoned, sensible, knowledge-informed explanation for why some phenomenon exists or occurs. An hypothesis can be as yet untested; can have already been tested; may have been falsified; may have not yet been falsified, although tested; or may have been tested in a myriad of ways countless times without being falsified; and it may come to be universally accepted by the scientific community. An understanding of the word "hypothesis," as used in science, requires a grasp of the principles underlying Occam's Razor and Karl Popper's thought in regard to "falsifiability"—including the notion that any respectable scientific hypothesis must, in principle, be "capable of" being proven wrong (if it should, in fact, just happen to be wrong), but none can ever be proved to be true. One aspect of a proper understanding of the word "hypothesis," as used in science, is that only a vanishingly small percentage of hypotheses could ever potentially become a theory.