Lecture 2 Flashcards
What is empiricism?
The theory that knowledge is based on experience derived from senses.
What are commitments of the Vienna Circle?
Evidence as Confirmation (verificationism)
- Experience is the only guarantor for scientific descriptions
- Positivism: knowledge can only be regarded as secure if it can be checked against observation
- Science should only be descriptive
What are the three problems for verification?
1) Auxiliary assumptions
2) Paradox of confirmation
3) Induction
Explain why ‘Auxiliary assumptions’ are a problem for verification with an example.
For example ‘All ravens are black’, one might observe a black raven and consider it supportive evidence. However how do you know that our perception of color is accurate or that the entity observed is indeed a raven.
Explain why ‘Paradox of confirmation’ is a problem for verification with an example.
For example ‘All ravens are black’. Observing a white shoe also confirms the hypothesis because it does not contradict the statement.
Explain why ‘Induction’ is a problem for verification with an example.
For example a scientist observes 100 sunrises in the east so -> ‘The sun rises in the east’. Just because the sun has risen in the east for all observed instances doesn’t guarantee it will do so tomorrow.
What did Karl Popper propose?
Evidence as falsification
- Instead of confirming we can disprove it
- Best scientific hypotheses are highly risky (they can easily disproven wrong)
Karl Popper conducted ‘The Good Scientific’ method what is this method?
Present strong claims as substantial conjectures and then try to find evidence against them.
Why is induction a pseudo-problem for Popper? And how Popper deal with this?
Because induction is not how the scientific method should be applied. A theory is scientific if it can be falsified.
Why is strict falsification impossible?
Due to auxiliary assumptions
