Lecture 3 - Method

Question 1

Three contexts of scientific praxes:

Answer 1

• Context of discovery, creation and construction (history of science, descriptive)
• Context of pursuit and development: both history and philosophy of science
• Context of justification and judgement: for philosophy of science, normative

Question 2

Inductivism

Answer 2

scientific method is induction, obtaining general knowledge from particular observations

Question 3

Two kinds of induction

Answer 3

• Enumerative induction: generalization
• Colligative induction: general conclusion contains a concept absent from the particular premises

Question 4

Criticism inductivism

Answer 4

• Not epistemic justification for propositions (Hume’s induction problem)
• Too restrictive: lots of knowledge has not been inducted from particular observations

Question 5

Hypothetico-deductivism (Carnap, Hempel):

Answer 5

• Scientific method is the hypothetico-deductive method,
• Principles are verified by conclusion, attains a degree of probability (confirmation)

Question 6

Criticism of hypothetico-inductivism inductive confirmation:

Answer 6

• Unreliable method: hume’s problem of induction
• Hypothetico-deductive method is not universal

Question 7

What is NOT scientific knowledge (Popper):

Answer 7

• True
• Confirmable
• Has been confirmed repeatedly and variously
• Wrong because it is too easy and doesn’t solve induction problem

Question 8

Poppers conclusion

Answer 8

truth of hypothesis can never be establish, but falsehood can be established with certainty

Question 9

What is scientific knowledge? (Popper)

Answer 9

• True
• Falsifiable
• Not yet been falsified despite several attempts

Question 10

How do we acquire scientific knowledge (Popper):

Answer 10

• Logical induction problem is unsolvable
• Psychological induction problem is solvable (in seeing regularities)

Question 11

Criticism of demarcation

Answer 11

• Too weak or too strong because some propositions are deemed scientific / unscientific which are actually the other (see examples)
• Repeated attempts to falsify have failed = repeated attempts to confirm have succeeded

Question 12

Kuhn:

Answer 12

• Paradigm: solving puzzles along pre-conceived lines
• Laws of paradigm are not tested, but dogmatically accepted
• Observations: infected by principles
• Textbooks are disciplinary means for paradigm drilling
• Narrow view at specific part of world, to which members subscribe
• Research in a paradigm is normal science, a shift of paradigm is revolutionary science (led by anomaly)
• Different paradigms are incommensurable

Question 13

Criticism on Kuhn

Answer 13

• Too much emphasis on sociological and psychological elements
• After paradigm-shift, not everything is lost
• Is there something as normal science
• Incommensurability is myth: scientist compare all the time

Question 14

Scientific research program (Lakatos):

Answer 14

• Science evolves due to competition between rival ScRPs
• ScRP is theoretically progressive iff it generates predictions of so far unobserved phenomena
• ScRP is empirically progressive iff its predications are confirmed or can explain more phenomena
• Theoretical and empirical progression determine the shift of ScRP

Question 15

Which philosophical view on scientific methodology is best?

Answer 15

• Metahistorical criterion (Lakatos): the more you can explain methodology of science internally, the more rational it is
   According to feyerabend quoting hegel: real is rational, therefore external explanations are not possible anymore

Question 16

Types of scientific methodologies

Answer 16

• Universal methodologies
• Praxis/discipline methodologies
• Paradigm methodologies
• Contextual methodologies (feyerabend)

Question 17

Feyerabend

Answer 17

• There is no general method, it may help you but also limit you
• One rule: anything goes