Darren asked:

What is the inductivist model of science and what are the problems associated with it?

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I'll try to put it in a nutshell. The inductivist view is that a scientist looks at a whole lot of similar events
or facts (evidence), and comes up with a generalisation that covers them (a scientific law). A major
problem with this view is that it assumes that facts are neutral things that are just given to us. They
stand out without any need to have a theory under which they can be seen as facts ("the theory
independence of facts"). However, when we identify facts in the world, we use some sort of theory to
allow us to carve out some part of the world as a distinct fact. We also use a theory of some sort to
group together a number of distinct events as facts that need a common explanation. Our 'facts' are
theory-dependent.

This is very well covered in an excellent and very readable book called "What is this thing called
science?by AF Chalmers (U Queensland Press). I highly recommend it.

Tim Sprod