Science Flashcards
Give 3 philosophical assumptions of science.
Determinism, empiricism, and skepticism.
Give 3 methodological principles of science.
Observation, measurement, and experimentation.
Give 3 reasoning principles of science.
Parsimony, falsification, and objectivity.
What did Francis Bacon believe was the ultimate authority in science?
Direct observation.
What are Bacon’s idols of the cave?
Personal biases arising for heredity, experience, education and feelings.
What are Bacon’s idols of the tribe?
Biases due to human nature.
What are Bacon’s idols of the marketplace?
Biases that result from bing overly influenced by the meaning of words.
What are Bacon’s idols of the theatre?
Biases that arise from bling allegiance to a specific viewpoint.
Give 3 cognitive factors affecting evidentiary reasoning errors.
Difficulties with randomness, sampling and probabilistic reasoning.
Give 4 social factors affecting evidentiary reasoning errors.
Difficulties with motivation, second-hand information, first-hand information and exaggerated impressions of corroboration.
Give 4 distortions of second-hand information.
Due to memory limitations, due to bias, to enhance efficiency of communication or due to plausibility adjustment.
Give 5 key features of science.
Originality, detachment, universality, skepticism and public accessibility.
Describe Aristotle’s frequency law of association, also known as Thorndike’s law of effect.
The more something is experienced, the easier it is to recall.
Describe Aristotle’s contiguity law of association, also known as associationist memory.
Things that occur together tend to be thought of together.
Describe Aristotle’s similarity law of association, also one of Gestalt’s principles.
Things that are similar tend to be thought of together.
Describe Aristotle’s contrast law of association, also one of Gestalt’s principles.
Things that are the opposite of what we are thinking also tend to be thought of.
Briefly describe reductionism.
Attempts to provide a complete explanation for observable phenomena by looking at the underlying physiological and biochemical processes.
What did Socrates was key to life/science?
Understanding the essence of things (humans, beauty, etc.).
What was Plato’s theory of ideas or ideal forms?
Objects in the physical world merely resembled perfect forms in the ideal world.
What was Plato’s theory of awareness?
Claims about the physical world, even scientific, we’re opinions.
What was Plato’s theory of knowledge?
All knowledge is innate, clouded by sensory experience and attained only through introspection.
How did Plato believe the soul worked in a just person,
The rational component, supported by the will, controlled the appetite.
Give 4 beliefs Sophists held about “truth.”
It it a matter of opinion, depends on the perceiver, can vary between perceivers, and can be influenced by culture.
What does constructive relativism believe about the scientific method?
It is no more trustworthy than ordinary thinking, as all truth is constructed by the mind and relative to various frameworks.
