Hoorcollege 1: What is sience?
1A
What is real?
Premodern: Things are as they seem to be
Modern: Acknowledgement of human subjectivity (I think, therefore I am), we
have subjective feelings, we see that there is subjectivity. There is a subjective
world and a objective world, they are connected to each other.
Postmodern: There is no objective reality to be observed, the idea that there
is no reality. Anything can be true. Alternative facts. People don’t believe in
facts. This is a methodological answer. What is truth? No that is not my fact ->
so what is real? Nothing is real.
How do we do research?
Ordinary human inquiry -> the way humans do research.
Humans recognize that future circumstances are caused by present ones.
Humans learn that patterns of cause and effect are probabilistic
(waarschijnlijk) in nature. (we are always observing)
Humans aim to answer ‘’what’’ and ‘’why’’ questions, and pursue these goals
by observing and figuring out.
How do we know what we know?
Direct Experience and observation -> sun going up and down, observe the sun
(The sun is moving, instead of the earth)
Personal inquiry
Tradition: accepting what everybody knows
Authority: judgement of an expert
This kind of information is inaccurate, it is not quite precise