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Philosophy of Social Science - Lecture notes
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Lecture 1: Scientific RationalitiesScience does not operate on a single rationality. Each model of rationality defines truth in its own
way
What is truth?
1. Proven knowledge, hence, knowledge that is absolutely certain
a. Logic, geometry
b. Proof oriented, based on axioms. There is no empirical verification necessary
2. A correct representation of nature or society
a. Hypothetical science
b. Hypothesis-oriented, finds origin in free-roaming speculation. Empirical
verification is absolutely necessary.
These criteria can be considered theory but there are also other criteria
The history of rationality
No form of scientific rationality is to be considered superior to the others, but in the history of
philosophy the proof-oriented style (of Plato and Aristotle) held the strongest claim on
rationality.
Plato and Aristotle
“Everything originates in a one”
- Logic: first premisses→ conclusions
- Geometry: Axioms (equivalent to first principles)→ theorems
- Causal chains: the forms (plato)/first principles (aristotle) → demiurge→ the world
For Aristotle there are two forms of certain knowledge
1. Science, which is derived from the first principles and not from sense perception!
2. First principles, which is directly intuited and helped by very many observations (sense
perception)
a. Example of the battle: the intellectual faculties which grasp the first principles
arise from sense-perception, just as when a retreat has occurred in battle, if one
man halts then so does another, until the original position is restored. The soul is
so constituted that it is capable of the same sort of process.
Axioms in Geometry
The pons asinorum and Pythagoras’ theorem can be proven on the basis of just five axioms.
Therefore, the theorems are necessarily true. The axioms cannot be proved
, - Any knowledge derived from the axioms (1st principles) is necessarily true, although the
first principles cannot be proven. How do you know the 1st principles must be true?
- Plato: all knowledge was placed in our souls by the Demiurge in a time before we
were born. We must recollect this knowledge to access it (through education).
- Aristotle: no recollection but a correspondence between the nous (intuition) in the
world and in one's psyche.
Lecture 2: Erosion of the Classical deductive style
Why, today, are we not relying on intuition anymore?
The West started anew
Many different cultural groups and raids make western Europe unsafe for culture. Starting the
12th century, there was a growth of cities and the first universities were set up where Plato and
Aristotle were taught.
- 1277, the bishop of Paris banns the teaching of Aristotle
- The condemned theses
- The world is eternal
- God cannot have created other worlds
- According to voluntarism, God is almighty and therefore not subjected to necessity- if he
wanted to he would. Rather, the world is contingent on God's will.
The most important event in the history of science ever
Al-Ghazali
Cause and effect distinction is not necessity- they are created side by side.
- Demolition of logical causality (ex: the burning of cotton)
- Causality do to intermediary force of god
- Claim 1: Fire is innate and therefore does not have capacity to have an action,
rather there is an intermediary force
- He uses the argument of a man who is deprived of his sight for his entire life is
suddenly granted it. He believes that throughout his first day with his new faculty
that it is his sight that makes things visible. Only when night falls does he
attribute his vision to the sun’s illumination. This is how al-Ghazali believes his
opponents are like. They cannot see god, so they make up causal relationships to
explain effects.
- Occasionalism, when fire and cotton are placed in contact, the cotton is burned
directly by god, rather than the fire (this inbetween of causality is caused by God).
This is because god is seen as rational, rather than as arbitrary
- Claim 2: refutes that objects have certain properties which make these objects
predisposed to certain results from interactions with other objects. Cites biblical
examples of Abraham's immersion into the fire without being burnt.
, - Opponents say that he would have necessarily been burnt by the fire. But
clearly nothing can be predicted because it is god as intermediary function
- The world generally works the way we expect it to and god creates for us
knowledge of certainty that he will not do certain things at certain times
- God as the only free agent, he acts voluntarily. He created the world not with a
designated course but is changeable. If you deny the will of god then things
become unpredictable. For example, if you leave the library a book can turn unto
a hose.
What does this do for science? Allows for more empirical research, make hypotheses and
postponing theory, leaves room for speculation
Voluntarism according to Kwa:
a. One can no longer assume the world was created for humanity- humans thrown into a
world they cannot understand and was also not created for them
b. Natural laws are not necessarily true, knowledge could only be obtained through
experience
i. Natural laws are not predicated on a binding necessity. It suffices that we
encounter them in nature and that they are simply what they appear to be
ii. God obliged to diverge from natural laws in which a miracle would be involved
Maimonides (guide for the perplexed)
Sets out differences with Aristotle who believes that the universe proceeds from God as a result
of an eternal necessity (god and universe are inseparable)
Rather he believes that the world is created by God’s will and thus is a manifestation of God’s
purpose.
- Pushes the principle of sufficient reason. For every fact there must be a reason why it is
one way and not the other. The universe is the result of design, not merely of necessity.
- In effect, he aims to show that there is no rational reason why the heavens are laid out the
way they are.
- Aristotle cannot account for the same matter being arranged in different ways.
- Spheres are planetary orbits which are envisaged as crystal spheres- there are
many aspects of the planetary system which cannot be derived from the first
principles and these aspect could therefore have been different from what they
actually are
- Especially troublesome because according to Aristotle (and deductive style) there
exists uniformity and order in heaven's existence.
- God has placed some intelligible design. Everything acts independent because it is by an
intelligent design that had some predeposited will. Not chance (aristotle would also
agree)- every function is bound together on purpose.
, - What is due to chance does not appear frequently
- All natural things have cause for existing
- God is not like what he creates (the universe), so you do not need the notion of
necessity.
Aspects of voluntarism: the universe is inseparable from god.all things in the universe are result
of design, and not merely of necessity; he who designed them may change them when he
changes his design
Ockham's Razor
Choosing the simple over the complex explanation
In order to explain a phenomenon, one should make as few assumptions as possible
- God was not obliged to use the razor.
- Gods creation is too big for us, we have to do with our finite minds
- We cannot really understand nature
- But by inspecting the bible and the book of nature
New concept emerges: experimentum
Question: how should we understand nature?
Duns Scotus
First I show that the first efficient cause has intelligence and will. Something is contingently
caused; therefore the first cause causes contingently, therefore it causes willingly. If some second
cause moves contingently, the first cause too will move contingently. ANd further the
impossibility follows that he necessarily causes whatever is caused.
Replacing the classical deductive style:
Room for skepticism- what if god did create many worlds? Application of skepticism regarding
worlds to our own hypothetically. Room for metaphorical and analogical thinking.
Aristotle vs. Scholarism (voluntarism)
God belongs to the same spiritual order as we God is transcendent
do
God is the very first principle (the unmoved God created the world out of a voluntary act
mover)
The world is necessarily as it is God ordained the contingent laws of nature
Lecture 3: Analogy and Hypothesis
What do we know when we no longer have first principles?
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