Philosophy of Science

1. Dialogue Education Update 3 Philosophy of Science • THIS CD HAS BEEN PRODUCED FOR TEACHERS TO USE IN THE CLASSROOM. IT IS A CONDITION OF THE USE OF THIS CD THAT IT BE USED ONLY BY THE PEOPLE FROM SCHOOLS THAT HAVE PURCHASED THE CD ROM FROM DIALOGUE EDUCATION. (THIS DOES NOT PROHIBIT ITS USE ON A SCHOOL’S INTRANET).

2. CONTENTS • Page 3 - Fling the Teacher- Intro to Philosophy of Science • Page 4 - Video Presentation on Science Religion and the Cosmos • Pages 5 to 6 - Definitions of terms • Page 7 - Demarcation • Page 8 – Why Study Philosophy of Science? • Pages 9 –15 The central questions in science. • Page 16 - Induction • Page 17 – 19 Coherentism • Page 20 - 21 Ockhams Razor – • Pages 23 to 28 - Theory-dependence of observation • Pages 31 The Scientific Method • Pages 32 - Video Interview with John Polkinghorne • Pages 33 to 34 - Bibliography

3. Fling the Teacher • Click on the image above for a game of “Fling the Teacher”. Try playing the game with your students at the start and the end of the unit. Make sure you have started the slide show and are connected to the internet.

4. Philosophy of ScienceGlossary OF TERMS • INDUCTION • REALISTS • ANTIREALISTS • FOUNDATIONALISM • COHERENTISM • EMPIRICISM • DEMARCATION • PARADIGM • OCKHAM’S RAZOR

5. Philosophy of SCience • The philosophy of science is concerned with the assumptions, foundations, and implications of science.

6. Philosophy of Science • Philosophy of science focuses on metaphysical, epistemic and semantic aspects of science.

7. Philosophy of SCience • Two central questions about science are (1) what are the aims of science and (2) how ought one to interpret the results of science?

8. Philosophy of Science • Philosophy in Science is important in the debate regarding evolution and intelligent design.

9. APPROACHES TO TRUTH(1) REALISM • REALISM uses a Correspondence theory of truth. This maintains that a statement is true if it corresponds to the state of affairs to which it refers. Philosophy of science has tended to rely on Correspondence theory of truth

10. AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH TO TRUTHNON or ANTI-REALISM • Non Realists maintain that statements are true because they cohere or fit in with other true statements within a particular ‘form of life’.

11. Philosophy of SCience • The most powerful statements in science are those with the widest applicability.

12. Philosophy of SCience It is not possible for scientists to have tested every incidence of an action, and found a reaction.

13. Philosophy of SCience Induction • One solution to this problem is to rely on the notion of induction.

14. Philosophy of SCience • Explaining why induction commonly works has been somewhat problematic.

15. Philosophy of SCience • The problem of induction is one of considerable debate and importance in the philosophy of science: is induction indeed justified, and if so, how?

16. Philosophy of SCience • One answer has been to conceive of a different form of rational argument, one that relies on deduction.

17. Philosophy of SCience Foundationalism • Induction attempts to justify scientific statements by reference to other specific scientific statements.

18. Philosophy of SCience • The way in which basic statements are derived from observation complicates the problem.

19. Philosophy of SCience Coherence • Coherentism offers an alternative by claiming that statements can be justified by their being a part of a coherent system.

20. The scientific Method The essential elementsof a scientific methodare: • Problem • Procedure • Observation from data • Conclusions

21. Philosophy of SCience • A scientific method depends on objective observation in defining the subject under investigation.

22. Philosophy of SCience • Observation involves perception as well as a cognitive process.

23. Philosophy of SCience • Empirical observation is used to determine the acceptability of some hypothesis within a theory.

24. Philosophy of SCience • Thomas Kuhn denied that it is ever possible to isolate the hypothesis being tested from the influence of the theory in which the observations are grounded.

25. Philosophy of SCience • By "paradigm" he meant, essentially, a logically consistent "portrait" of the world, one that involves no logical contradictions and that is consistent with observations that are made from the point of view of this paradigm.

26. Philosophy of SCience For Kuhn, the choice of paradigm was sustained by, but not ultimately determined by, logical processes.

27. Philosophy of SCience According to Kuhn, a paradigm shift will occur when a significant number of observational anomalies in the old paradigm have made the new paradigm more useful.

28. Philosophy of SCience That observation is embedded in theory does not mean that observations are irrelevant to science.

29. Philosophy of SCience Ockham's razor • The motto is most commonly cited in the form "entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity", generally taken to suggest that the simplest explanation tends to be the correct one.

30. Philosophy of SCience Paul Feyerabend argued that no description of scientific method could possibly be broad enough to encompass all the approaches and methods used by scientists.

31. Philosophy of SCience Demarcation • Karl Popper contended that the central question in the philosophy of science was distinguishing science from non-science.

32. YOU TUBE VIDEO OUT THE IMPORTANCe OF PHILOSOPHY TO NEUROSCIENCE • Click on the image to the right. You will need to be connected to the internet to view this presentation. • Enlarge to full screen

33. Bibliography • Agassi, J., (1975), Science in Flux, Reidel, Dordrecht. • Agassi, J. and Jarvie, I. C. (1987), Rationality: The Critical View, Kluwer, Dordrecht. • Augros, Robert M., Stanciu, George N., The New Story of Science: mind and the universe, Lake Bluff, Ill.: Regnery Gateway, c1984. ISBN 0895268337 • Ben-Ari, M. (2005) Just a theory: exploring the nature of science, Prometheus Books, Amherst, N.Y. • Bovens, L. and Hartmann, S. (2003), Bayesian Epistemology, Oxford University Press, Oxford. • Boyd, R., Gasper, P., and Trout, J.D. (eds., 1991), The Philosophy of Science, Blackwell Publishers, Cambridge, MA. • Feyerabend, Paul K. 2005. Science, history of the philosophy of. Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford. • Glazebrook, Trish (2000), Heidegger's Philosophy of Science, Fordham University Press. • Godfrey-Smith, P. (2003) Theory and reality: an introduction to the philosophy of science, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London • Gutting, Gary (2004), Continental Philosophy of Science, Blackwell Publishers, Cambridge, MA. • Harris, Errol E. (1965), The Foundations of Metaphysics in Science , George Allen and Unwin, London, Reprinted by Routledge, London (2002). • Harris, Errol E. (1991), Cosmos and Anthropos, Humanities Press, New Jersey. • Hawking, Stephen. (2001), The Universe in a Nutshell, Bantam Press. ISBN 0-553-80202-X • Harré, R. (1972), The Philosophies of Science: An Introductory Survey, Oxford University Press, London, UK. • Heelan, Patrick A. (1983), Space-Perception and the Philosophy of Science, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA. • Honderich, Ted (Ed.) (2005) The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford University Press. New York, NY. • Kearney, R. (1994), Routledge History of Philosophy, Routledge Press. See Vol. 8. • Klemke, E., et al. (eds., 1998), Introductory Readings in The Philosophy of Science, Prometheus Books, Amherst, New York, NY. • Kneale, William, and Kneale, Martha (1962), The Development of Logic, Oxford University Press, London, UK. • Kuipers, T.A.F. (2001), Structures in Science, An Advanced Textbook in Neo-Classical Philosophy of Science, Synthese Library, Springer

34. Bibliography • Ladyman, J. (2002), Understanding Philosophy of Science, Routledge, London, UK. • Losee, J. (1998), A Historical Introduction to the Philosophy of Science, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. • Newton-Smith, W.H. (ed., 2001), A Companion to the Philosophy of Science, Blackwell Publishers, Malden, MA. • Newall Paul (2004) The Gallilean Library- http://www.galilean-library.org/manuscript.php?postid=43784 • Niiniluoto, I. (2002), Critical Scientific Realism, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. • Pap, A. (1962), An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science, The Free Press, New York, NY. • Papineau, D. (ed., 1997), The Philosophy of Science, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. • Papineau, David. 2005. Science, problems of the philosophy of. Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford. • Piattelli-Palmarini, Massimo (ed., 1980), Language and Learning, The Debate between Jean Piaget and Noam Chomsky, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. • Alexander Rosenberg, (2000), Philosophy of Science: A Contemporary Introduction, Routledge, London, UK. • Runes, D.D. (ed.), Dictionary of Philosophy, Littlefield, Adams, and Company, Totowa, NJ, 1962. • Salmon, M.H., et al. (1999), Introduction to the Philosophy of Science: A Text By Members of the Department of the History and Philosophy of Science of the University of Pittsburgh, Hacket Publishing Company, Indianapolis, IN. • Snyder, Paul (1977), Toward One Science: The Convergence of Traditions, St Martin's Press. • van Fraassen, Bas C. (1980), The Scientific Image, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. • van Luik, James, The Energy of Ideas, Crow Hill Press, Cambridge, MA. 2000 • Walker, Benjamin, Caesar's Church: The Irrational in Science & Philosophy, Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 2001, ISBN 1-85776-625-3 • Wikipedia-Philosophy of Science- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_science • Ziman, John (2000). Real Science: what it is, and what it means. Cambridge, Uk: Cambridge University Press.