The Empirical Generalization and the Hypothesis

An understanding of the energetic phenomena of life, as observed in a geochemical context, provides proper explanation for the observed facts, as outlined above. But considerable uncertainties exist, on account of the state of our biological knowledge relative to our knowledge of inert matter. In the physical sciences, we have been forced to abandon ideas, long thought to be correct, concerning the biosphere and the composition of the crust. We have also had to reject long established, but purely geologic explanations (§6). Concepts that appeared to be logically and scientifically necessary have proved to be illusory. Correcting these misconceptions has had entirely unexpected effects upon our understanding of the phenomena in question.