According to the empiricist consensus what is normally taught as the "scientific method" is in effect those procedures which warrant the rational acceptance of theoretical laws, i.e., the process of deducing empirical consequences from theoretical hypotheses and statements of observable conditions, and the confirmation or refutation of those hypotheses. This procedure is seen as a process of "testing" hypotheses and is regarded as the primary occupation of all science. While the methods for devising the specific tests of individual hypotheses may vary from science to science, all sciences share in common allegiance to this method of testing general laws by empirical evidence as the only method for establishing the rational warrant for accepting theoretical laws and the scientific explanations and predictions deduced from them. Thus defenders of the consensus accepted as another element a commitment to the "unity of science" with respect to its methodology.