Samenvatting
Summary of Articles Philosophy and Ethics
- Instelling
- Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen (RU)
This document contains a summary of given literature in course Introduction of Philosophy and Ethics.
[Meer zien]Voorbeeld 2 van de 12 pagina's
Voorbeeld 2 van de 12 pagina's
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Voorbeeld van de inhoud
1. Samir Okasha – Philosophy of Science1. What is science?
The origins of modern science
Science came from earlier periods with a dominant world-view from Aristotelianism. Aristotle put
detailed theories in physics, biology, astronomy and cosmology. He believed that all earthly bodies
are composed of just four elements: earth, fire, air and water.
Copernicus published a book attacking the geocentric model of the universe, which placed the
stationary earth at the center of the universe with the planets and the sun in orbit around it. “The
sun was the fixed center of the universe, and the planets, including the earth, were in orbit around
the sun”. His innovation let indirectly to modern physics, through the work of Kepler and Galileo
Galilei. Galileo was a life-long supporter of Copernicanism, and one of the early pioneers of the
telescope. When he pointed his telescope at the heavens, he made a wealth of amazing discoveries,
including mountains on the moon, a vast array of stars, sun-spots, and Jupiter’s moons. All of these
conflicted thoroughly with Aristotelian cosmology, and played a pivotal role in converting the
scientific community to Copernicanism. Galileo also found out the free fall method where in vacuum,
both materials will fall at the same time, where in a normal situation, the heavier will fall faster.
After Galileo’s death, Descartes developed a radical new mechanical philosophy. The laws governing
the motion of these particles or ‘corpuscles’ held the key to understanding the structure of the
Copernican universe, Descartes believed. His widespread acceptance was marked with the final
downfall of the Aristotelian world-view.
Newton was able to show that Kepler’s laws of planetary motion and Galileo’s law of free-fall were
logical consequences of this laws of motion and gravitation. The 18th and 19th centuries both saw
notable scientific advances, particularly in the study of chemistry, optics, energy, thermodynamics,
and electromagnetism. But for the most part, these developments were regarded as falling within a
broadly Newtonian conception of the universe.
Charles Darwin discovered the natural selection, whereby it was not widely accepted where people
believed that God created the world. In 20 th century it was accepted. Where Watson and Crick
discovered the structure of DNA.
What is philosophy of science?
The principal task of philosophy of science is to analyse the methods of enquiry used in the various
sciences. Looking at science from a philosophical perspective allows us to probe deeper - to uncover
assumptions that are implicit in scientific practice, but which scientists do not explicitly discuss. So
part of the job of philosophy of science is to question assumptions that scientists take for granted.
Descartes, Newton and Einstein have played an important role in the development of philosophy of
science.
However, nowadays, scientist take a little interest in philosophy of science, and know a little about it.
It is not an indication that philosophical issues are no longer relevant, rather, it is a consequence of
the increasingly specialized nature of science, and of the polarization between the sciences and the
humanities that characterizes the modern education system.
Science and pseudo-science
Karl Popper: So a falsifiable theory is one that we might discover to be false - it is not compatible with
every possible course of experience. Popper thought that some supposedly scientific theories did not
, satisfy this condition and thus did not deserve to be called science at all; rather they were merely
pseudo-science. Imagine a man who pushes a child into a river with the intention of murdering him,
and another man who sacrifices his life in order to save the child. Freudians can explain both men’s
behaviour with equal ease: the first was repressed, and the second had achieved sublimation. Popper
argued that through the use of such concepts as repression, sublimation, and unconscious desires,
Freud’s theory could be rendered compatible with any clinical data whatever; it was thus
unfalsifiable.
We should not criticize Adams’ and Leverrier’s behaviour as ‘unscientific’ - after all, it led to the
discovery of a new planet. But they did precisely what Popper criticized the Marxists for doing. They
began with a theory - Newton’s theory of gravity - which made an incorrect prediction about Uranus’
orbit. Rather than concluding that Newton’s theory must be wrong, they stuck by the theory and
attempted to explain away the conflicting observations by postulating a new planet. Similarly, when
capitalism showed no signs of giving way to communism, Marxists did not conclude that Marx’s
theory must be wrong, but stuck by the theory and tried to explain away the conflicting observations
in other ways. So surely it is unfair to accuse Marxists of engaging in pseudo-science if we allow that
what Adams and Leverrier did counted as good, indeed exemplary, science? A little progress will be
made when abandoning theories after the first trouble. This is why old theories are used to still see
of the theory is right.
6. Philosophical problems in physics, biology, and psychology
Leibniz versus Newton on absolute space
Our first topic is a debate between Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) and Isaac Newton (1642-1727), two
of the outstanding scientific intellects of the 17th century, concerning the nature of space and time.
Newton thought of space as a three-dimensional container into which God had placed the material
universe at creation. This implies that space existed before there were any material objects, just as a
container like a cereal box exists before any pieces of cereal are put inside. Leibniz strongly disagreed
with the absolutist view of space, and with much else in Newton’s philosophy. He argued that space
consists simply of the totality of spatial relations between material objects. Examples of spatial
relations are ‘above’, “below’, ‘to the left of, and ‘to the right of’ - they are relations that material
objects bear to each other. This ‘relationist’ conception of space implies that before there were any
material objects, space did not exist. Leibniz argued that space came into existence when God
created the material universe; it did not exist beforehand, waiting to be filled up with material
objects. Leibniz’s view can be understood in terms of an analogy. A legal contract consists of a
relationship between two parties - the buyer and seller of a house, for example. If one of the parties
dies, the% the contract ceases to exist. So it would be crazy to say that the contract has an existence
independently of the relationship between buyer and seller - the contract just is that relationship.
Newton’s main reason for introducing the concept of absolute space was to distinguish between
absolute and relative motion. Relative motion is the motion of one object with respect to another.
We can only say whether an object is moving with respect to another object. Absolute motion: the
motion of an object with respect to absolute space itself. Newton thought that at any time, every
object has a particular location in absolute space. If an object changes its location in absolute space
from one time to another then it is in absolute motion; otherwise, it is at absolute rest. Relative
motion is motion relative to other material objects; absolute motion is motion relative to absolute
space itself.
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