They verify hypotheses by experimentation and careful observation. They seek peer review and outside experts. They delegate and divide the work of discovery, employing specialized investigators to attack the Unknown. In certain areas of speculative inquiry, they use Occam's Razor and a laissez-faire tradition of tolerance, especially in regard to cosmology and sexual preference. Alert readers will no doubt understand that most entrepreneurs fall into one or another category of skullduggery.
Bums aim at artistic achievement.
Scoundrels want wealth. Pirates crave something else, typically revenge or retribution. To avenge a wrong is the whole purpose of law. In this respect, skullduggery has no limp-wristed substitute. You can't defeat tyranny by whining about it .