Philosophy of science
,Laura C/ Tilburg University
LECTURE 1: EPISTEMOLOGY & SCEPTICISM ................................................................... 5
SCEPTICISM ................................................................................................................... 5
RATIONALISM (PLATO’S VIEW) ............................................................................................. 5
EMPIRICISM (ARISTOTLE’S VIEW) .......................................................................................... 6
CHECK-YOUR-KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONS ................................................................................. 9
LECTURE 2: BACON, DESCARTES & THE BRITISH EMPIRICISTS ....................................... 11
FRANCIS BACON'S NEW METHOD: A PATH TO TRUE KNOWLEDGE ............................................... 11
RENÉ DESCARTES' RATIONALISM: A QUEST FOR CERTAINTY ....................................................... 12
BRITISH EMPIRICISM: FROM LOCKE TO HUME ......................................................................... 13
CHECK-YOUR-KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONS ................................................................................ 16
LECTURE 3: IMMANUEL KANT, POSITIVISM & HERMENEUTICS ........................................ 18
THE SYNTHESIS OF IMMANUEL KANT ..................................................................................... 18
POSITIVISM ................................................................................................................... 20
HERMENEUTICS .............................................................................................................. 21
WILHELM DILTHEY .......................................................................................................... 21
CHECK-YOUR-KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONS ................................................................................ 22
LECTURE 4: WITTGENSTEIN I & LOGICAL POSITIVISM ..................................................... 23
A PHILOSOPHICAL PROBLEM WITH TRUTH (HEIDEGGER'S VIEW) ................................................... 23
LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN (WITTGENSTEIN I)............................................................................. 23
THE LOGICAL POSITIVISTS ................................................................................................. 24
THE DOWNFALL OF LOGICAL POSITIVISM ............................................................................... 25
CHECK-YOUR-KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONS ................................................................................ 29
LECTURE 5: LECTURE 5: SIR KARL R. POPPER ................................................................ 30
POPPER VS. LOGICAL POSITIVISTS ....................................................................................... 30
POPPER’S CRITICAL RATIONALISM ....................................................................................... 30
PROBLEMS WITH POPPER’S IDEAS ....................................................................................... 32
CHECK-YOUR-KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONS ................................................................................ 34
LECTURE 6: SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONS ......................................................................... 36
CONSTRUCTIVISM AND RELATIVISM ..................................................................................... 36
LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN II ................................................................................................. 37
THOMAS KUHN ............................................................................................................... 38
CHECK-YOUR-KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONS ................................................................................ 42
LECTURE 7: EPISTEMOLOGICAL ANARCHY & RESEARCH PROGRAMS ............................. 44
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,Laura C/ Tilburg University
FEYERABEND’S EPISTEMOLOGY .......................................................................................... 44
PROBLEMS WITH RELATIVISM AND CONSTRUCTIVISM ................................................................ 45
LAKATOS’ SOPHISTICATED FALSIFICATIONISM ........................................................................ 45
CHECK-YOUR-KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONS ................................................................................ 49
LECTURE 8: SCIENTIFIC REALISM VS. CONSTRUCTIVE EMPIRICISM, PRAGMATISM &
NATURALISM .............................................................................................................. 51
SCIENTIFIC REALISM VS. CONSTRUCTIVE EMPIRICISM ................................................................ 51
PRAGMATISM VS. SCEPTICISM: THE FIXATION OF BELIEFS ........................................................... 52
NATURALISM AND NATURALIZED EPISTEMOLOGY ...................................................................... 54
CHECK-YOUR-KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONS ................................................................................ 56
THE “MAIN CHARACTERS” AND THEIR MAIN IDEAS ....................................................... 58
PLATO .......................................................................................................................... 58
ARISTOTLE .................................................................................................................... 58
FRANCIS BACON ............................................................................................................. 58
RENÉ DESCARTES ........................................................................................................... 58
JOHN LOCKE .................................................................................................................. 58
GEORGE BERKELEY.......................................................................................................... 58
DAVID HUME ................................................................................................................. 59
IMMANUEL KANT ............................................................................................................. 59
AUGUSTE COMTE ............................................................................................................ 59
WILHELM DILTHEY .......................................................................................................... 59
LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN I .................................................................................................. 59
KARL R. POPPER ............................................................................................................. 60
THOMAS KUHN ............................................................................................................... 60
PAUL FEYERABEND .......................................................................................................... 60
IMRE LAKATOS................................................................................................................ 60
W.V.O. QUINE............................................................................................................... 60
CHARLES SANDERS PEIRCE ............................................................................................... 60
LECTURE 9: PREDICTABLY IRRATIONAL......................................................................... 61
THE THREE RULES OF THUMB FOR CRITICAL THINKING ................................................................ 61
COGNITIVE BIASES .......................................................................................................... 61
CHECK-YOUR-KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONS ................................................................................ 63
LECTURE 10: THE EVOLUTIONARY ORIGIN OF IRRATIONALITY (WHY WE ARE IRRATIONAL)
.................................................................................................................................. 65
SYSTEM 1 & SYSTEM 2 ...................................................................................................... 65
THE IMPACT OF EMOTIONS AND SOCIAL DYNAMICS ON THINKING .................................................. 67
CHECK-YOUR-KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONS ................................................................................ 68
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,Laura C/ Tilburg University
LECTURE 11: HOW BIASES LEAD TO DOMAINS OF IRRATIONALITY (IRRATIONALITY IN
ACTION) ..................................................................................................................... 70
SUPERSTITION ................................................................................................................ 70
CONSPIRACY THEORIES .................................................................................................... 70
PSEUDO SCIENCES .......................................................................................................... 70
RELIGION ...................................................................................................................... 70
ECONOMIC BEHAVIOUR .................................................................................................... 71
CHECK-YOUR-KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONS ................................................................................ 72
LECTURE 12: HOW CAN WE GUARD OUR THINKING AGAINST REASONING ERRORS? ....... 74
GUARDING AGAINST INTUITIVE REASONING ERRORS.................................................................. 74
GUARDING AGAINST EMOTION-BASED REASONING ERRORS ........................................................ 74
GUARDING AGAINST SYSTEM 2 REASONING ERRORS ................................................................. 75
THE EXTENDED MIND HYPOTHESIS AND CRITICAL THINKING ........................................................ 76
CHECK-YOUR-KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONS ................................................................................ 77
LESSON 13: THE IMPORTANCE OF CRITICAL THINKING .................................................. 79
IRRATIONALITY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES ............................................................................... 79
CRITICAL THINKING AS A DRIVER OF MORAL PROGRESS .............................................................. 79
THE IMPORTANCE OF CRITICAL THINKING FOR PROGRESS AND THE FUTURE ..................................... 79
CHECK-YOUR-KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONS ................................................................................ 81
LECTURE 14: THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND THE DEMARCATION CRITERION .................. 85
NATURAL SCIENCES VS. HUMAN SCIENCES ............................................................................ 85
THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD AS A SELF-CORRECTING PROCESS ........................................................ 85
BALANCING OPENNESS AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS ...................................................................... 86
THE IMPORTANCE OF DEMARCATION ..................................................................................... 87
CHECK-YOUR-KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONS ................................................................................ 88
EXTRA ........................................................................................................................ 90
OVERVIEW OF PART 1 ....................................................................................................... 90
TEACHER’S Q AND A ......................................................................................................... 93
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,Laura C/ Tilburg University
Part one
Lecture 1: Epistemology & scepticism
- epistemology is where science began; it asks 3 questions:
o what is knowledge?
o how can we justify that knowledge?
o what is the source of knowledge?
- there are 2 epistemological views:
o rationalism (knowledge comes from reason)
o empiricism (knowledge comes from sensory experience)
Scepticism
- it originates from the Greek philosopher Socrates, who used questioning to challenge
people’s assumptions and beliefs, famously through dialogues in the public
marketplace
- scepticism asks whether we can know anything for certain1
Dooremalen, De Regt, & Schouten (2021): "we do not know anything at all, and
never will."
- Socrates was convicted for his questioning methods, which challenged established
beliefs; his scepticism laid the foundation for deeper inquiry into what can truly be
known
Socrates employed the "Socratic method," a relentless line of questioning that
exposed the flaws and inconsistencies in individuals' claims to knowledge; through
this method, he demonstrated that even seemingly sound beliefs could be easily
dismantled, leading to the conclusion that true knowledge might be elusive
- scepticism raises doubts about whether we can be sure of anything
it contrasts with other epistemological approaches like rationalism and
empiricism, which argue that knowledge can be obtained through reason or
sensory experience, respectively
Rationalism (Plato’s view)
- general claim: real knowledge stems from our reasons (ratio)
associated claim: there is innated knowledge (=nativism)
- Plato believed that real knowledge stems from reason- learning is
remembering (anamnèsis), meaning knowledge is innate and merely
recalled (=nativism)
- Plato argued that everything
perceived in the physical world is in
constant change (Heraclitus’s idea of
2
"panta rhei" ), meaning only opinion (doxa) can
be gained from it, not true knowledge (episteme)
1
A sceptic can still hold beliefs, but they acknowledge the limitations of justifying those beliefs as absolute
truths
2
Panta rhei is a Greek phrase attributed to the philosopher Heraclitus, which means "everything flows" or
"everything is in a state of flux." It highlights Heraclitus's belief that the world is constantly changing, and
nothing remains the same.
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,Laura C/ Tilburg University
- Plato’s allegory of the cave3 illustrates his theory of knowledge, where true
knowledge comes from remembering eternal forms or ideas (just as prisoners in a
cave mistake shadows for reality, we mistake the physical world for the true reality of
the world of Forms.)
Plato's theory is based on the idea of a world of Forms (or Ideas), which contains
unchanging, eternal concepts that our souls have knowledge of before birth; we forget
these Forms/ Ideas upon being born into our bodies and must use reason to recall
them, thus "learning" is actually a process of remembering
- Plato's attempt to demonstrate anamnesis in the dialogue Meno, where Socrates
guides a slave to solve a geometrical problem by asking him a lot of questions, is
criticized as unconvincing and he is accused of putting words in the slave’s mouth
- Plato’s rationalism is considered extreme due to its reliance on the world of Forms
and anamnesis
Empiricism (Aristotle’s view)
- general claim: empiricists believe that the source of
knowledge is the experience gained through
sensory perception: if you want to know how
something is, you must look (or listen…)
associated claim: if all knowledge comes from
experience via perception, there is no innate
knowledge
- empiricism claims that knowledge originates from
our sensory experiences when observing the world and generally reject the idea of
innate knowledge
- Aristotle, while a student of Plato, disagreed with Plato’s theory of two worlds- the
World of Forms and the physical world- and believed that knowledge can be gained
about the changing physical world; he emphasized sensory perception as the primary
source of knowledge, aligning with the empiricist principle that "nothing is in the
intellect which was not first in the senses.” => he believed there is only one world,
which is the one we perceive through our senses (knowledge is acquired by observing
and experiencing the world around us); Aristotle proposed that the mind at birth is
like a tabula rasa (a blank slate) and all knowledge is written on this slate through
experience and observation
- however, Aristotle also incorporated rationalistic elements into his epistemology:
to explain the formation of universal concepts (like the concept of "chair4"),
Aristotle proposed the idea of "intuitive induction", where we use reason to
grasp the essence of things based on observations of individual instances
the problem of induction- it is difficult to justify universal claims based only
on limited observations
- empiricism vs. empirical:
3
Plato's Allegory of the Cave depicts prisoners chained inside a dark cave, facing a wall, unable to see anything
except shadows cast by objects behind them. These shadows represent their only reality. When one prisoner
escapes and sees the outside world for the first time, he realizes the shadows were mere illusions, and true
knowledge lies beyond the cave.
4
Plato’s "chair": A perfect, unchanging Form that exists in the World of Forms, and all physical chairs are
imperfect representations of this ideal chair
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,Laura C/ Tilburg University
empiricist= someone who believes that knowledge stems from sensory perception
(=> empiricism is the opposite of rationalism)
empirical= term that relates to methods in science that use observation and
experimentation to infer conclusions about the world
- despite his emphasis on observation, Aristotle did not advocate for experiments,
believing that they interfered with the natural order and thus provided limited insight
into the natural world (stance that had a significant impact on the progress of
scientific knowledge in the Middle Ages: scholars focused more on observation,
deduction and theoretical understanding, rather than conducting controlled
experiments to test hypotheses)
Peripatetic principle
- the Peripatetic Principle, associated with Aristotle, was named after the way he taught
while walking around the Lyceum (peripateo in Greek means to walk)
- this principle, formulated by Thomas Aquinas, states that "Nothing is in the intellect
which was not first in the senses" and ended being the key idea in empiricism—all
knowledge begins with sensory perception
- Aquinas incorporated Aristotle’s theory of matter and form into Christian theology.
Aristotle taught that everything in the world consists of two aspects:
o matter: the physical substance (e.g: marble)
o form: the shape or essence that turns the matter into something specific (e.g: a
statue)
- this creation and decay process—where form actualizes potential within matter—
was used by Aquinas to explain God's role in creation: God was seen as the one who
initiated this natural process of change, reflecting Aristotle’s concept of the Unmoved
Mover or First Cause, which Aquinas identified with God
- Unmoved Mover / First Cause: Aristotle observed that everything in the world is in
a constant state of flux, transitioning from one state to another; this process, he
argued, requires a cause- however, this cause itself must also have a cause, leading to
a chain of cause and effect that extends infinitely backward in time; he reasoned that
there must be a starting point, a primary cause that sets everything else in motion-
something that is itself unmoved and unchanging => Unmoved Mover
Induction
- Aristotle introduced induction as the empirical method by which we move from the
particular (concrete observations) to the universal (general statements)
- a problem with induction is that it doesn’t provide certainty; just because we have
observed several humans being mortal, we cannot conclusively prove that all humans
are mortal (it remains a correlation, not a guaranteed truth)
- to address the limitations of induction, Aristotle argued that induction is only a first
step; the second step is the use of our intellectual capacity (nous) to understand
necessary truth= intuitive induction (he argued that we possess a capacity for using
reason to grasp the essential nature of things, allowing us to generalize from particular
instances to universal concepts; e.g.: observing many instances of humans dying leads
to the universal concept "all humans are mortal."- this "intuitive induction" involves a
rational component that goes beyond purely sensory experience)
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,Laura C/ Tilburg University
Person/View Main Idea Key Concepts
Socrates Socratic method of Socratic method exposed the
questioning challenged flaws in claims to
people's assumptions and knowledge, leading to the
beliefs. Socrates’ scepticism view that true knowledge
laid the foundation for might be elusive.
questioning what can truly
be known.
Plato (Rationalism) Knowledge comes from Plato's Theory of Forms:
reason (ratio). True Knowledge of eternal,
knowledge is innate and unchanging forms (ideas) is
recalled through reason. recalled through anamnesis
Physical world only (remembering). Allegory of
provides opinions (doxa), the Cave illustrates the
not true knowledge difference between opinion
(episteme). and real knowledge.
Aristotle (Empiricism) Knowledge comes from Knowledge is acquired by
sensory experience and observing and experiencing
observation of the world. the world. Tabula rasa: the
Rejected Plato’s separation mind is a blank slate.
of the world of Forms from
the physical world. Problem of induction: Just
because something happens
Induction moves from repeatedly doesn’t guarantee
concrete observations to it will always happen.
universal concepts but Aristotle supplemented
doesn’t provide certainty. induction with intuitive
Inductive reasoning leads to induction.
general claims based on
limited observations.
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,Laura C/ Tilburg University
Check-your-knowledge questions
1. According to Aristotle, how do we acquire knowledge?
[a] Through innate ideas, which are recalled from past experiences.
[b] Through sensory experience and observation of the physical world.
[c] By contemplating the perfect Forms in the World of Ideas.
[d] By manipulating the natural world through experiments.
2. In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, what do the shadows on the wall represent?
[a] True knowledge that can be perceived with the senses.
[b] The unchanging Forms that exist in the World of Ideas.
[c] Illusions or false beliefs based on sensory experiences.
[d] The rational insights of philosophers.
3. What is Aristotle’s concept of the Unmoved Mover?
[a] The first physical cause of all motion in the universe.
[b] A being that sets the universe in motion and itself is also in motion.
[c] The final cause of all motion, which causes movement without being moved itself.
[d] A material entity that causes change in all other objects.
4. Which of the following best describes the difference between empiricism and rationalism?
[a] Empiricism relies on reason alone, while rationalism depends on sensory experience.
[b] Empiricism focuses on innate knowledge, whereas rationalism believes knowledge is
gained through perception.
[c] Empiricism asserts that knowledge comes from sensory experience, while rationalism
holds that knowledge is derived from reason.
[d] Empiricism and rationalism both agree that all knowledge is innate.
5. Aristotle’s method of induction involves:
[a] Forming general conclusions based on specific observations.
[b] Acquiring knowledge through innate ideas.
[c] Remembering perfect Forms that exist beyond the physical world.
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, Laura C/ Tilburg University
[d] Performing experiments to directly manipulate the natural world.
6. What does the Peripatetic Principle, associated with Aristotle, state?
[a] Knowledge comes from reasoning, and experimentation only confirms what we already
know.
[b] Nothing is in the intellect that was not first in the senses.
[c] True knowledge is innate and comes from remembering the Forms.
[d] Sensory experience should be avoided in favor of pure rational thought.
Correct Answers:
1. [b] Through sensory experience and observation of the physical world.
2. [c] Illusions or false beliefs based on sensory experiences.
3. [c] The final cause of all motion, which causes movement without being moved itself.
4. [c] Empiricism asserts that knowledge comes from sensory experience, while
rationalism holds that knowledge is derived from reason.
5. [a] Forming general conclusions based on specific observations.
6. [b] Nothing is in the intellect that was not first in the senses.
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