Irina Mikhalevich (Rochester Institute of Technology)
The classic "Baconian" view holds that science is characterized by experiment and experiment is characterized by active intervention on nature. Many scientific investigations, such as natural experiments, observational studies, model and simulation-based experiments, and preparatory studies, do not involve intervention on the target system and, in that respect, represent prima facie counterexamples to the Baconian view. Here, I argue that non-interventionist experiments may be epistemically on a par with their interventionist counterparts, and ought to be classified therefore as experiment proper.
