Philosophy of Science Skill

Master the philosophical foundations of science: What is scientific method? What is explanation? Are scientific theories true?

Core Questions

| Question | Issue | |----------|-------| | What distinguishes science from non-science? | Demarcation | | How do we confirm theories? | Confirmation | | What is scientific explanation? | Explanation | | Are theories true or useful fictions? | Realism | | How does science change? | Theory change |

Scientific Method

The Problem of Induction

Hume's Problem: How do we justify inductive inference?

Past regularities don't logically guarantee future ones
Cannot use induction to justify induction (circular)
Yet science relies on induction

Falsificationism (Popper)

POPPER'S FALSIFICATIONISM
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DEMARCATION CRITERION
├── Science: Falsifiable claims
├── Pseudo-science: Unfalsifiable
└── Examples: Astrology, Freud (unfalsifiable)

METHOD
├── Bold conjectures
├── Severe tests
├── Refutation → new conjecture
└── Corroboration ≠ confirmation

KEY IDEA:
We never confirm theories
We only fail to falsify them
Asymmetry: One counterexample refutes

Problems:

Theories rarely abandoned on single refutation
Auxiliary hypotheses can absorb refutation
No purely observational test

Paradigms (Kuhn)

KUHN'S STRUCTURE OF SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONS
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NORMAL SCIENCE
├── Work within paradigm
├── Puzzle-solving
├── Anomalies accumulate
└── Paradigm defines problems, methods

CRISIS
├── Too many anomalies
├── Alternative paradigms emerge
├── Debate between paradigms
└── Incommensurability

SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
├── Paradigm shift
├── Not cumulative progress
├── New worldview
└── Gestalt switch

EXAMPLES:
├── Ptolemy → Copernicus
├── Newton → Einstein
└── Phlogiston → Oxygen

Scientific Explanation

Deductive-Nomological (D-N) Model

D-N MODEL (Hempel)
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EXPLANATION STRUCTURE:
L₁, L₂, ... Lₙ  (Laws)
C₁, C₂, ... Cₙ  (Conditions)
─────────────────
E              (Explanandum)

REQUIREMENTS:
├── Deductively valid
├── Laws are essential
├── Empirically testable
└── True premises

EXAMPLE:
All metals expand when heated.
This is metal.
This was heated.
∴ This expanded.

Problems:

Symmetry problem (flagpole and shadow)
Irrelevance problem
Statistical explanation

Causal-Mechanical Model

Explanation = tracing causal mechanism
Not just subsumption under laws
Mechanisms explain, not just correlate

Unificationism

Explanation = unifying diverse phenomena
Fewer patterns explaining more
Newton unified celestial and terrestrial motion

Scientific Realism

The Debate

Scientific Realism:

Mature scientific theories are approximately true
Theoretical entities (electrons, genes) exist
Science aims at truth

Anti-Realism (Instrumentalism):

Theories are useful tools
Theoretical terms don't refer
Science aims at empirical adequacy

Arguments for Realism

No Miracles Argument:

Science's success would be miraculous if theories weren't true
Best explanation of predictive success is truth
"The only philosophy that doesn't make science a miracle"

Arguments Against Realism

Pessimistic Meta-Induction:

Past "successful" theories were false
Caloric, phlogiston, ether
Current theories probably also false

Underdetermination:

Multiple theories compatible with same evidence
Evidence doesn't uniquely determine theory
Why think ours is true?

Structural Realism

Epistemic: We can know structure, not nature Ontic: Structure is all there is

Reduction and Emergence

Reductionism

Higher-level sciences reducible to lower
Biology → Chemistry → Physics
Unity of science thesis

Emergence

Some properties not reducible
Whole greater than parts
Consciousness? Life?

Multiple Realizability

Same higher-level state, different lower-level realizations
Pain in humans ≠ pain in octopi (neurally)
Blocks type-identity reduction

Key Debates

Demarcation

What makes something science?
Falsifiability? Paradigms? Method?
Is demarcation possible?

Theory Choice

Empirical adequacy
Simplicity, parsimony
Explanatory power
Fruitfulness

Values in Science

Value-free ideal achievable?
Social influences on science
Science studies, feminist philosophy of science

Key Vocabulary

| Term | Meaning | |------|---------| | Falsification | Disproving through counterevidence | | Paradigm | Shared framework for research | | Incommensurability | Paradigms can't be compared | | Confirmation | Evidence supporting theory | | Underdetermination | Evidence doesn't determine theory | | Instrumentalism | Theories are tools, not truths | | Reduction | Higher explained by lower | | Emergence | Irreducible higher-level properties | | Demarcation | Distinguishing science from non-science | | Corroboration | Surviving falsification attempts |

Integration with Repository

Related Themes

thoughts/knowledge/: Scientific knowledge
thoughts/consciousness/: Neuroscience methodology