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
