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Summary Philosophy of Science Exam and Test Notes
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Philosophy 262: PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCEOUTLINE
Section A (T/F): Standard Image, Popper, Kuhn, Feyerabend
Section B (Essays): Taylor, Truth
By Ashley Richardson
, TRUE OR FALSE CONTENT:
SECTION A
1
,Introductory lecture: What is science?
— At the beginning of the 20th century, the conception of the nature of science and its method was
largely influenced by the views of John Stuart Mill.
— The philosophical image of science relates to how its internal structure is ideally in fact practiced.
— These shifts relate mostly to issues of objectivity and rationality of method, according to Van
Niekerk.
NOTE:
We deal with three different views of science.
1. Standard Image: Induction and Verification.
2. Popper’s Image: Critical Rationalism.
3. Kuhn’s Image: Paradigmatic Image.
2
, Standard Image of Science: Science as a-historical
Basic principle is induction and verification.
• This was the description of the knowledge process of natural sciences that dominated before shifts in
the 20th century.
• Scientific knowledge at this time was seen as the only truly reliable knowledge of reality.
• This special status was determined by two factors:
1. The supposed objectivity of natural science knowledge claims.
2. The rationality of the method of acquiring scientific knowledge.
Features/assumptions of standard image:
— Science is completely objective and rational.
Objectivity = that science describes reality exactly as it is – science deliberately excludes any
subjective/ emotional reactions, imaginative projections and expectations from our scientific dealings
with reality. If science claims do not avoid subjectivity, they become untrustworthy.
NOTE: This rests on the assumption that the truth of reality can be disposed to human knowledge
and is directly accessible.
Rationality of the scientific method = science demands logical consistency in all reasoning
processes. It demands for a stabilised procedure – it does not rest on intuition and there must be
careful execution of repeated experiments in order to refine this procedure.
— Scientific knowledge is acquired in precisely the same way everywhere and always – therefore: a
formalistic (follows a specific method; a stabilised procedure) and a-historical (this method does not
change; it is timeless – truly scientific knowledge is valid for all people at any time in history) image
of science.
I.e. anyone who possesses the necessary background knowledge can master the procedure and will
attain research results which are always and everywhere the same.
— Science is completely value free: objectivity of science allows for universally valid truths that can be
expressed through science – subjectivity of scientists/values of historical community of which
science forms a part, play no role in the acquisition and status of scientific knowledge.
3
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