'''Methodology''' is a set of explicitly formulated rules of theory assessment. Openly professed methodologies consist of [[Theory#Descriptive and Normative|normative propositions]] that prescribe how theories ''ought'' to be assessed. ThusAmong most famous examples of methodologies are the inductivist-empiricist methodology of Locke and Newton, they have to the probabilist methodology of logical positivism, Popper's falsificationism, Lakatos's methodology of scientific research programmes, and the early Laudan's pragmatist methodology. Importantly, methodologies should not be differentiated from confused with the actual implicit expectation of a community, i.e. from [[Method|methods]].
== Prehistory ==