Mathematico-Deductive Theory of Rote Learning. A Study in Scientific Methodology [Review of the book Mathematico-Deductive theory of rote learning: A study in scientific methodology

Abstract

Reviews the book, Mathematico-Deductive Theory of Rote Learning: A Study in Scientific Methodology by Clark L. Hull, Carl I. Hovland, Robert T. Ross, Marshall Hall, Donald T. Perkins, and Frederic B. Fitch (see record 1940-03408-000 ). This work is one of the first systematic attempts to apply to biological science the mathematico-deductive methodology which has been so fruitful in the physical sciences. The only other substantial effort in this direction was made by J. H. Woodger in his Axiomatic Method in Biology (1937). The problem is to construct, from a collection of undefined terms and a set of postulates, a theory of rote learning which is not only internally consistent in the logical sense but externally consistent with the empirically observed world. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)