Full Idea
Accommodations are often worth less than predictions, because only they have to face the possibility that the best explanation of the fit between the theory and data is that the theoretical system was fudged.
Gist of Idea
Predictions are best for finding explanations, because mere accommodations can be fudged
Source
Peter Lipton (Inference to the Best Explanation (2nd) [2004], 11 'Circularity')
Book Reference
Lipton,Peter: 'Inference to the Best Explanation (2nd ed)' [Routledge 2004], p.184
A Reaction
Lipton illuminatingly explores the discovery by Semmelweiss of the cause of childbed fever. He predicted various explanations, and tested them out in a hospital. It clicks when the prediction occurs.
Related Ideas
Idea 17403 The periodic table suggests accommodation to facts rates above prediction [Scerri]
Idea 17405 If a theory can be fudged, so can observations [Scerri]