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Philosophy and Nature of Science: Part 1. Philosophy Part 2. Philosophers
Philosophy and Nature of Science: Part 1. Philosophy Part 2. Philosophers
Philosophy and Nature of Science: Part 1. Philosophy Part 2. Philosophers
Science
Part 1. Philosophy
Part 2. Philosophers
Basic Questions
How do we know?
What is knowing?
Can we know with certainty?
Can we believe something with certainty?
Are there facts?
Is there truth?
Can an hypothesis be verified or falsified?
What Constitutes Evidence?
Is there a relationship between evidence and
hypothesis?
induction
Observation -----------------> Hypothesis
Induction
• Induction goes from effect to cause.
• Effect can possibly have many causes.
• A cause may have a single effect.
• Hypothesis is a kind of cause
cause effect
Critique of Induction
• There is no logical way of going from
observation to hypothesis
• What is a fact?
induction
Observation ------------> Hypothesis
deduction
Hypothesis ------------> Observation
Deduction
• If there is no cogent way of going from
observation to hypothesis (Tidak ada
cara yang menyakinkan dari observasi
ke hipotesa)
• Then there is no cogent way of
deducing from hypothesis to
observation
Critique of Deduction
Introduction
John Locke
Biography
• B. 1632, son of a small property-owner and lawyer
• Oxford, 1652-67
• Studied church-state issues, chemistry and medicine, new
mechanical philosophy
• Involvement in politics through Lord Ashley, whom he treated for
a liver abscess
• Plotted to assassinate King Charles II and his Catholic brother,
later James II
• Exile in Holland, 1683-89
• 1689: 3 major works published
Major works and themes:
A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689)
- Argues for religious toleration;
- Except for atheists, “who deny the Being of a God”
and thus cannot be trusted to keep their promises
(e.g. in contracts).
Context:
- Religious wars and persecution in England and on the
Continent.
Works, cont.
Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689)
• Argues against innate ideas
• For the acquisition of knowledge through the senses:
“Intuitionism”
• Anti-Cartesian (Descartes)
• Re-opens debate about essentialism vs
conventionalism with his views on identity,
comparison, classification and natural kinds.
Works, cont.
Two Treatises on Government (written 1679/80;
published 1689/90)
• First: Argues against traditional basis for
political authority expressed in Filmer’s
Patriarcha, divine right of kings;
• Second: protection of private property, life
and liberty = basis for civil government.
Locke’s Basic Epistemology
David Hume
(1711-1776)
Anthem2
1. Sensation & the Origin of
Ideas
The contents of the mind: (1) ideas & (2)
impressions (sensations & feelings) -- Ideas
(concepts, beliefs, memories, mental images, etc.)
are faint (redup) & unclear; impressions are strong
& vivid.
Ideas are derived from impressions: All ideas are
copies of impressions.
The meaning of ideas depends on impressions
The empirical criterion of
meaning
"From what
impression is that
alleged (dugaan)
idea derived?"
No impression, no meaning?
No impression, no foundation in reality?
The Nature & Limits of
Human Knowledge
Two kinds of ideas
(or judgments)
"All the objects of human reason or inquiry may naturally be divided
into two kinds: relations of ideas and matters of fact".
"Hume's Fork"
Judgments concerning relations of ideas
5'
4'
(hypotenuse)
2 2 2
3 +4 =5
3'
(9 + 16 = 25)
Judgments concerning matters of
fact
"Every judgment concerning matters of fact
can be denied without contradiction" (e.g.,
"the sun will not rise tomorrow").
Neither intuitively nor demonstrably certain
Not discoverable by thought alone [a priori],
but rather on the basis of sense experience
[a posteriori]
More specifically,
All judgments concerning
matters of fact are based on . .
..
the more fundamental] belief that
there is "a tie or connection"
between cause & effect.
And why do we believe that
there is a "tie or connection"
between cause & effect?
Actual location
moon
Falsificationism (1)
Confirmation and Pseudoscience
Good scientific practice:
E.g. Einstein’s general relativity
Conjecture: mass of the sun bends the path of light
• If the apparent location of the observed star doesn’t
shift, the theory is wrong.
• It will have been refuted.
• The mark of a scientific theory is whether it can be
falsified by observation
Falsificationism (1)
Conjecture and Refutation (dugaan & sanggahan):
“Falsificationists… prefer an attempt to solve
an interesting problem by a bold conjecture,
even (and especially) if it soon turns out to
be false, to any recital of a sequence of
irrelevant truisms” (CR: 231)
This gives us:
(i) a glimpse (sekilas) of scientific method
(ii) a demarcation criterion for science
Falsificationism (1)
Scientific method:
Scientific theories have deductive consequences
• They can be falsified but not confirmed.
• The objective of scientific theorizing is to put
forward (bold) hypotheses and then test them in
order to falsify them
• Theories are falsified by basic statements
(what is a basic statement?)
Falsificationism (1)
Demarcation:
• Scientific theories are those that can be falsified
by basic statements.
• Good scientific theories do not make themselves
immune from falsification by use of ad hoc
hypotheses
Falsificationism (1)
Progress of Science:
• Science progresses by eliminating theories that
have been falsified?
• But does it progress?
• A scientific theory cannot be shown to be true.
But some scientific theories do have varying
degrees of success. They resist falsification.
Falsificationism (1)
Normal Science
Crisis
Anomalies
Paradigm Diagram
old paradigm unexplained observations competing new
paradigms
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Problem:
How to explain the
retrograde motion
of planets
Kuhn (1)
Scientific Revolutions
The Copernican model
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Hard Core:
Theoretical assertions
Metaphysical commitments
HC
Auxiliary Belt:
Initial conditions
AB
Assumptions
Ad hoc hypotheses
Scientific Research Programmes
Scientific Research Programmes (SRP)
Parts of a SRP:
e.g. Celestial Mechanics Hard Core:
Laws of Motion
Universal Gravitation
Space and time
HC
Auxiliary Belt:
AB Number of planets
Masses of planets