Lecture 2 Flashcards
What is the common sense view of science?
- Based on empirical observation,
not speculation or preconceived ideas - Describing the world as it is in itself
- Outsider’s (third-person) perspective
- Neutral, value-free
- Formulated in exact theories,
if possible using math / statistics
Who are the Vienna Circle
group of scientists (in early 20th century Vienna) reflecting on philosophical questions about science
What is the aim of the Viena circle?
Development of a strictly
scientific worldview
Against speculative philosophy,
religious ideas, traditional
worldview
Why is postitivism called like this?
From ‘positive’, in the sense of ‘what is posited’, ‘what is
given’, ‘what is laid down’,
* not in the sense of ‘happy’, ‘in a good mood’, ’constructive
What is strict empiriscism?
knowledge can only come from
observation
No place for speculative claims that are not based on observation!
What are Analytic statements
True just on the basis of the meaning of the words used
What are synthetic statements
True/false on the basis of the meaning of the words used and what the world is like
What are the core ideas of synthetic statements?
- The empirical sciences are concerned with synthetic statements.
- Empirical scientific research is the only way of determining the
truth or falsity of these statements.
What are the core ideas of analytic statements?
Definitions, logic, and mathematics are all analytic statements
What is gate-keeping?
Gatekeeping is the process through which information is filtered for dissemination. Filtering the wrongs before a research
What is The verifiability criterion of meaning
The meaning of a synthetic statement is its method of verification
What is the inductive method
From observations to general theories
and empirical regularities / laws
What do observations?
- Observations give rise to
hypotheses and theories - And they serve to support /
confirm them
“let the data speak”
What is behaviorism?
- In psychology (and more broadly)
- Exclusive focus on observable behavior in
response to external stimuli - Nothing about internal cognitive processes
- Because those are unobservable /
unverifiable
Dog whistle thingy
What falls in the Common sense view of science accoridng to Risjord?
Science ought to be value-free
Cf. Risjord: Strong Thesis of Value-Freedom
Science is objective insofar as values play no role in
scientific research
What are the pros and cons of door-to-door method?
- depends on people wanting to talk to representaive;
+ more accurate for people who are hard to locate
- expensive
What are the pros and cons of a Questionnaire?
- depends on effort to mail in
+ cheaper
Whata are some preditabe erros?
- Scientific reasons of accuracy and feasibility for choosing methods
- Political reasons for favoring certain kinds or errors and inaccuracies
What is type I error?
A False positive, concluding there is some effect when there is none.
What is a type II error?
False negative, concluding there is no effect when there is one.
What are weighig different kinds of errors?
Deciding what error matters
more is never a purely scientific decision.
- but always a value-laden one!
- Social
- Political
- Economic
- Moral
- Religious
- Personal
What are epistemic values?
values that have to do with truth and knowledge truth, knowledge, explanatory scope, predictive power, etc
What are non-epistemic values?
values that don’t have to do with truth and knowledge political ideals, social values, religious and other worldviews
Does epistemic values influenece science?
no
What is a Contextual role?
values involved in the context in which research takes place, but not necessary for conducting research
What is a constitutive role?
Values necessary to the activity of research, shape research from
the inside, research doesn’t make sense without them
What is a Contextual role for non-epistemic values?
- what research to fund, what problems to investigate, where and
how to communicate about findings, with whom are results shared, etc
What is a Constitutive role for epistemic values?
what method gives the most accurate results, which (statistical)
analysis technique is most suitable and reliable, is a sample representative, what to do with outliers, etc.
What is the Moderate Thesis of Value-Freedom?
Science is objective when only epistemic values are
constitutive of scientific practice; moral and political considerations must always remain contextual
What are the problems of moderate Thesis of Value-Freedom?
- Weiging different kinds of errors (type I & II)
- Defining terminolog
- Moral reasons (Milgram experiment, Animal testing, Deception, manipulation, deprivation,
etc. in experiments) - Emancipatory and critical research
(Social science can itself be
oppressive and exclusionary by
working from a privileged
perspective. Recognizing this and changing it requires commitment to political value - Concepts like ‘injustice’,
‘oppression’,‘equal’, ‘prejudice’,
etc. are both descriptive and
normative (value-laden) - Thick moral concepts
- Such concepts seem inevitable for
certain social science projects! )
What is Value-laden?
Presupposing the acceptance of a particular set of values.
