This is a complete summary of the articles, powerpoints, and the lecture notes, as well as the seminars. It also contains the correct answers for the assignments from week 1 - 7. This summary is for the compulsory course Philosophy of the Humanities.
Chapters covered in the course philosophy of the humanities
December 9, 2017
December 17, 2017
62
2018/2019
Summary
Subjects
humanities
philosophy
philosophy of science
philosophy of science
uva
summary
poth
poh
de vries
leezenberg
philosophy of the humanities
english language and culture
english language and culture
Connected book
Book Title:
Author(s):
Edition:
ISBN:
Edition:
More summaries for
Samenvatting Wetenschapsfilosofie
Reading questions + answers Philosophy of the Humanities 1
Lecture notes of Philosophy of the Humanities 1
All for this textbook (11)
Written for
Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA)
Engelse Taal en Cultuur, English Language and Culture
Philosophy of the Humanities, Block 1
All documents for this subject (1)
7
reviews
By: trblrvng • 5 year ago
By: rietjea • 5 year ago
Thanks for the review! Please let me know how I could’ve improved the summary. :)
By: annekathrincsapo7 • 5 year ago
By: sophiehoogenboom • 5 year ago
By: tamarknel • 5 year ago
By: zctan • 6 year ago
By: ykekoerten • 6 year ago
By: adrianbreakbeat • 6 year ago
Seller
Follow
rietjea
Reviews received
Content preview
W EEK 1
Lecture 1
The Aristotelian sciences form a coherent whole of concepts, logical and metaphysical
principles, and statements in the different sub-disciplines. They feature a teleological, that
is, goal-directed, notion of explanation. Taken together, they constitute a coherent
conceptual framework or scheme, individual parts of which were difficult to replace in
isolation.
The Renaissance humanists tried to recover the original versions of (mostly pagan) literary
texts from antiquity. Their work valued rhetorical eloquence, contained secularizing
tendencies, and received a far wider diffusion due to the novel technology of printing.
The seventeenth-century ‘scientific revolution led to a wholesale rejection of the
Aristotelian sciences. Thus, it not only created a dominant approach to physics, but also
an influential novel understanding of scientific knowledge more generally. As a result,
central aspects of Aristotelianism were rejected, in favor of a new, mechanistic world
view, and of a new, empiricist conception of scientific knowledge.
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) gives the classical formulation of the so-called subject-object
scheme. He shows that ‘empirical knowledge’ requires the active effort of a
transcendental subject. Kant thus completes a ‘Copernican revolution’ in epistemology:
where earlier philosophers saw knowledge as revolving around the known object, Kant
sees knowledge as centered around the knowing subject.
March for Science: there is no alternative to facts
o Donald Trump who states global warming is a hoax
o The world is still flat even though science has proved otherwise
When is science accepted and seen as good science?
o Philosophy of Science: normative/descriptive
Normative changed to descriptive over the centuries
Epistemology (branch of philosophy that studies what knowledge is
and how knowledge claims can be justified). How are these related to each other?
Standard / classical image of science: formulated theories based on
experience or facts, containing universal laws represented in charts or graphs
(standard). Originated in the scientific revolution
A.Holznienkemper: there is a social side to science which makes knowledge biased sometimes
Science/Humanities:
o Wissenschaft/Geisteswissenschaften
o Wetenschap/Geesteswetenschappen
Important historical dimension to the course
What is knowledge?
Different cultures and different knowledge formations
P.C. Snow, 1959
, Aristotelian Science:
o Dominant up until the science revolution, mixed with Christian ideas which
made it untouchable until the revolution
o Aristotle made the distinction between 3 sorts of knowledge:
Theoretical knowledge: unchanging things in the world
(mathematics, metaphysics etc.) Natural sciences
Practical knowledge
Poetical knowledge
o Need to be placed in a deductive system: syllogism - they need a guided
system
All men are mortal
Socrates is a man
Therefore:
Socrates is mortal
Distinction between Earth and the things around it
Empirical graphs
Induction: empirical observation of a limited number of cases
The four causes:
o Material
o Formal - Aristotelian science places emphasis on this cause
o Efficient - modern science puts emphasis on this cause
o Final
Goal-directed change: teleological; strive to achieve your goal
Copernicus:
o Instrumentalist interpretation
View of scientific theories as instruments for observation and
predictions
Galilei:
o Realist
o An accurate theory describes the world as it is
o Mathematical realism
o Rejects the theological view
o Nature is a giant machine
o Mechanistic and mathematical branch
Rene Descartes (1596 - 1650)
Empiricist and experimental branch:
o Francis Bacon: do not be biased, observe nature carefully, strong focus on
experiments, can be conducted in artificial context
Novum Organum
Against human disputes, not about rhetoric etc., you have to
overcome nature by doing experiments
, Penetrate further into nature
o Robert Boyle
o Isaac Newton:
Axiomatic system
Laws of motion:
Objet either remains moving or it remains motionless unless
a force is enacted upon the object (basic law of physics)
Force = Mass * Acceleration
One body exerts a force on a second body, the second body
simultaneously exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction on
the first body
Mathematics and experiments: system of laws can be formulated
David Hume:
o Knowledge is gathered through two perceptions:
Relations of ideas (analytic) = analyzing statements, basic true or
false statements because of the meaning of the terms.
Matters of facts (synthetic) = based on facts, "this rose is red" -
generate new knowledge. Only based on our senses / sensory knowledge
A priori - analytic statements
A posteriori - synthetic statements based on experience
Induction: reach general conclusions based on observations you
have made. 'Problem of induction': how can observations lead to conclusions?
Are all crows black? Have you seen all crows? -No
Deduction: opposite of induction
Causality: how can we say that one event causes another event?
Conjunction of events, relation of events. We can not see causality, but we can see
a conjunction of events.
Habit of our mind. Psychological solution. But not in
philosophical terms it is not satisfying
It is not an empirical fact, cannot be seen by empirical
observation
Immanuel Kant (1724 - 1804)
o Kritik der reinen Vernunft (1781): enormous influence on the philosophical
sciences
o Fundamental ordering principles are a priori themselves
Structure of reason:
Forms of intuition (space and time)
Categories (causality etc. coincidence…)
Our reason itself is formed in this structure of reasoning
o We cannot think outside of these fundamentals : that means that we do not
have access to things themselves (dinge an sich)
o Transcendental subject: makes all empirical knowledge possible
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller rietjea. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $8.72. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
