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SASSTalk03/11/2009
Whatisphilosophy? FromancientGreek“philein”=tolove&“sophia”=wisdom. ItisthestudyofgeneralproblemsconcerninghumanexistenceusingacriLcalsystemaLcapproachandreasonedargument.
AncientphilosophystartedbeforeSocratesanddevelopedallthewaytoPlatoandAristotle.
Theoriginofphilosophy
“TheGreeksgaveitthenameofPhilosophy;correctlytranslatedtoitsoriginalmeaning,thistermisanothernameforuniversalscience,thescienceofeverythingabouttheworld,oftheuniquetotalitythatembracesallthatis”‐EdmundHusserlfrom“ThecrisisofEuropeansciencesandtranscendentalphenomenology”
TheseparaLonbetweenscienceandphilosophy
ThedisLncLonbetweenscienceandphilosophydidnotappearunLlKantinthelate18thcentury.
KantdisLnguishedbetweentwolevelsofjudgement: DeterminisLcjudgement:properreasoningofscienceandtheempiricalapproachtotruth.
ReflecLvejudgement:theaprioriknowledgeoftheworld,anontologicaltruththatcanbeconceivedbutnotproven.
Scienceandphilosophyhaveonecommongoalthough,whichisseekingforthemethodtouseintheanalysisofcausesandeffects.
IwillanalysehowthesemethodsshapedtoformulatetheneedsofscienLficresearchthroughtheyears.
Philosophy&science:alinkthatsurvivedmillenia
ThemajoringredientsofscienLficmethodologywasprovidedbythegreekphilosopher,Aristotle,in350BC.
Empiricismisatheorywhichassertsthatknowledgearisesfromexperience.
“ThusitisclearthatwemustgettoknowtheprimarypremisesbyinducLon;forthemethodbywhichevensense‐percepLonimplantstheuniversalisinducLve.”–Aristotle“PosteriorAnaly;cs”
TheIslamicGoldenAge
“Truthissoughtforitsownsake.Andthosewhoareengageduponthequestforanythingforitsownsakearenotinterestedinotherthings.Findingthetruthisdifficult,andtheroadtoitisrough.”–Ibnal‐Haytham“Cri;queofPtolemy”
• EarlyislamicphilosophyseestheemergenceofinducLveexperimentalmethodsduringthemiddleages.• ThefirstexperimentalscienLficmethodwasdevelopedbytheislamicscienLstIbnal‐Haythamaround1000AC.
TheformaLonofmodernmethodology
TheearliestEuropeanphilosophertoadvocatemodernscienLficmethodswasRogerBaconinthe13thcentury.
BaconwasinspiredbytheworksofPlato,AristotleandearlyIslamicscienLsts.
HismethodwasdescribedasarepeaLngcycleofobservaLon,hypothesis,experimentaLonandtheneedforindependentverificaLon.
TheformaLonofscienLficmethodology“Experimentalscience,thesolemistressofspeculaLvesciences,hasthreegreatPrerogaLvesamongotherpartsofknowledge:Firstshetestsbyexperimentthenoblestconclusionsofallothersciences:NextshediscoversrespecLngthenoLonswhichothersciencesdealwith,magnificenttruthstowhichthesesciencesofthemselvescanbynomeansacain:herThirddignityis,thatshebyherownpowerandwithoutrespectofothersciences,invesLgatesthesecretsofnature.”–RogerBacon“OperaMajor”
ThebirthofscienLficconcepts
GalileoGalileiinthe17thcenturysubsLtutesreasoningandexperimentaLonfoundedonhypothesistosimpleobservaLon.
Inhisstudyoffallingobjects,GalileomovesfrompurelyqualitaLveideastoquanLtaLveconcepts.
HeemphasisedtheimportanceofdeducLveknowledgetoquanLfyobservaLons.
ThebirthofscienLficconcepts“Philosophy(ie.Physics)iswriceninthisgrandbook…Imeantheuniverse,whichstandsconLnuallyopentoourgaze,butitcannotbeunderstoodunlessonefirstlearnstocomprehendthelanguageandinterpretthecharactersinwhichitiswricen.ItiswriceninthelanguageofmathemaLcs,anditscharactersaretriangles,circles,andothergeometricalfigures,withoutwhichitishumanlyimpossibletounderstandasinglewordofit;withoutthese,oneiswanderingaroundinadarklabyrinth”–GalileoGalilei“TheAssayer”
AcontemporaryofGalileoGaliei,FrancisBacondescribedaraLonalprocedureestablishingcausaLonbetweenphenomenabasedoninducLon.
HisinducLvereasoningproceedsfromfact,toaxiom,tolaw.
HisideasreliedonexperimentalhistoriestoeliminatealternaLvetheoriesandledlatertoPopper’sideaoffalsificaLonism.
FromexperimenttoeliminaLveinducLon
FromexperimenttoeliminaLveinducLon
“MenhavesoughttomakeaworldfromtheirownconcepLonandtodrawfromtheirownmindsallthematerialwhichtheyemployedbutif,insteadofdoingso,theyhadconsultedexperienceandobservaLon,theywouldhavethefactsandnotopinionstoreasonabout,andmighthaveulLmatelyarrivedattheknowledgeofthelawswhichgovernthematerialworld.”–FrancisBacon“NovumOrganum”
Courtesyofxkcd.com
Newton’srules…ofreasoning NewtonemphasisedtheideaofraLonalisminfavourofBacon’sempiricalapproachatthebeginningofthe18thcentury.
Heoutlines4rulesofreasoningin“Principia”: Causestonaturalthingsneedtobebothtrueandsufficienttoexplainthem.
Tosamenaturaleffectsneedtoassignsamecauses.
Stateofbodieswithinreachofourexperimentsaretobeconsidereduniversal.
ExperimentalphilosophyshouldlookuponproposiLonscollectedbygeneralinducLon.
Newton’srules…ofreasoning
“Toexplainallnatureistoodifficultataskforanyonemanorevenforanyoneage.Itismuchbecertodoaliclewithcertainty,andleavetherestforothersthatcomeameryou,thantoexplainallthings.”–IsaacNewtonunpublishednotesofthe“PrefacetoOp;cks”
TheproblemofinducLon TheproblemofinducLonisthequesLonwhetherinducLvereasoningleadstotruth.
DavidHumeintroducedthisprobleminthemid‐18thcentury
WhatisthejusLficaLonfor: generalisingabouttheproperLesofaclassofobjectsbasedonnumberofobservaLons(demonstraLvereasoning)
Asequenceofeventswilloccurinthefutureasithasinthepast.(probablereasoning)
TheproblemofinducLon“IfwewouldsaLsfyourselves,therefore,concerningthenatureofthatevidence,whichassuresusofmacersoffact,wemustenquirehowwearriveattheknowledgeofcauseandeffect.”–DavidHume“Anenquiryconcerninghumanunderstanding”
• Hume’ssetachallenge:tocomeupwithadeducLvereasonfortheconnecLonbetweendemonstraLveandprobablereason.• Ifheisright,jusLficaLonofinducLoncanonlybeinducLve.
TheproblemofinducLon
ThisbegsthequesLon:AsinducLonisbasedonanassumpLonofaconnecLon,itcannotitselfexplaintheconnecLon.HencetheproblemofinducLonisnotonlytheuncertaintyoftheconclusionderivedbyinducLonbutdoubtstheveryprinciplethroughwhichtheconclusionarederived,ie.themethod.
ThescienceofDescartes:deducLon DescartesprovidedaphilosophicalframeworkforthesciencesbasedsolelyondeducLonin1637.
Fourrulestodefinecorrectapproachtoprogress: Firstruleistodoubtanypreconceivedknowledge.
Seconddividestheproblemintosmallpartstomakeiteasier.
Thirdinvolvesorderingthoughtstomovefromthesimplesttomorecomplexconcepts.
Lastisthedevelopmentofgeneralconclusionstoavoidomipnganythingintheprocess.
ThescienceofDescartes:deducLon“Cogitoergosum”–RenéDescartes“Discourseonthemethod”
Theexistenceofaprioriknowledge KantofferedasoluLontotheproblemraisedbyHume:theunderstandingoftheworldhasitsfoundaLonsinbothexperienceandaprioriknowledge.
Theexternalworldprovidesthosethingswhichwesense.Itisthemindthatgivesitorderandallowsustocomprehendit.
Theconceptofthemind(understanding)andpercepLon(sensibility)areintertwinedandformcomprehension.
Theexistenceofaprioriknowledge
“Thoughtswithoutcontentareempty,intuiLonswithoutconceptsareblind”
“Since,thentherecepLvityofthesubject,itscapacitytobeaffectedbyobjects,mustnecessarilyprecedeallactualpercepLons,andsoexistinthemindapriori”–ImmanuelKant“Cri;queofpurereason”
KantdeliveringalecturetoRussianofficers
DeducLveversusinducLvereasoning
DeducLvelogicisreasoningwhichevaluatesargumentsbylookingforthevalidityoftheconclusionstobealogicalconsequenceofthepremises.
DeducLveargumentsareeithervalidorinvalid,nevertrueorfalse.
InducLvelogicisreasoningwhichascribesproperLesbasedonrepeatedobservaLons.
HypothesesarejusLfiedbymeansofafinitenumberofexperienceswhichwillleadtoageneralconclusionabouteventsofthesametype
Theeffectualartofdiscovery
WilliamWhewellproposedadescripLonofmethod,namedthehypotheLco‐deducLvemethodin1840.
ScienLficenquiryproceedsviahypothesisinaformthatcouldconceivablybeflasifiedbyatestonobservabledata.
HeexaminedthemethodandacemptedtoconstructsciencebyuniLngideastofacts.
Theeffectualartofdiscovery HeanalysedinducLoninthreesteps: theselecLonofthefundamentalidea,suchasspace,number,causeorlikeness.
amorespecialmodificaLonofthoseideassuchasauniformforce.
thedeterminaLonofmagnitudes.
“ineveryactofknowledge…therearetwooppositeelements,whichwemaycallIdeasandPercepLons”–WilliamWhewell“OnthePhilosophyofDiscovery:ChaptersHistoricalandCri;cal”
TheformaLonoffalsificaLonism PoppertookfalsificaLonisminthemid20thcenturyashiscriterionofdemarcaLonbetweenwhatisandisnotgenuinelyscienLfic.
AtheoryshouldbeconsideredscienLficifandonlyifitisfalsifiable.
PopperalsodevelopedthetermcriLcalraLonalism;scienLfictheoriesandanyotherclaimstoknowledgecanandshouldberaLonallycriLcised.
Empiricaltheoriesshouldbesubjectedtotestswhichmayfalsifythem.
TheformaLonoffalsificaLonism“Wecanestablishfourdifferentstepswithwhichatheorycanbetested.Firstofallthereisthelogicalcomparisonoftheconclusionstotesttheinternalcoherenceofthesystem.Secondly,thesearchforthelogicalformofthetheoryiscarriedout,whichhasthegoalofdeterminingifthetheorywillconsLtutescienLficprogressinthecaseitwillsurviveourvarioustests.Intheend,thetheoryistestedbyproceedingatempiricalapplicaLonsoftheconclusionsthatcanbeextracted…Wetrythentomakeadecisionbasedonthecomparisonoftheresultsoftheexperiments.IfthisdecisionisposiLveandtheconclusionsareverified,thetheoryhassucceededthetest…otherwiseitwasfalsified”–KarlPopper“TheLogicofScien;ficDiscovery”
ThestructureofscienLficprogress KuhnarguedthatsciencedoesnotprogressviaalinearaccumulaLonofnewknowledgebutbyperiodicrevoluLonscalled“paradigmshims”.
HerejectedtheideaofasinglemethodthatappliestoallscienceandarguedthatthereislicleevidenceofscienLstsfollowingafalsificaLonistmethodology.
Asanomalousresultsbuildup,sciencereachesacrisis,atwhichpointanewparadigm,whichagglomeratestheoldresultstogetherwiththeanomaliesintooneframework.
ThestructureofscienLficprogress
“First,thenewcandidatemustseemtoresolvesomeoutstandingandgenerallyrecognizedproblemthatcanbemetinnootherway.Second,thenewparadigmmustpromisetopreservearelaLvelylargepartoftheconcreteproblemsolvingacLvitythathasaccruedtosciencethroughitspredecessors.”–ThomasKuhn“TheStructureofScien;ficrevolu;on”
ReconcilingPopperandKuhn ImreLakatosacemptedtoreconcilefalsificaLonismandtheideaofscienLficrevoluLonbyarguingthatscienceprogressesbythefalsificaLonofresearchprogramratherthanmorespecificuniversalstatements.
TheconsequenceoffurtherdebatesisthatscienLficmethodisasetofcoreprinciplesthatareatthefoundaLonofscienLficenquirytoday.
Whatisthecorrectmethodology? ThequesLonofhowscienceoperatesandthereforehowtodisLnguishcorrectscienLficmethodologyandpseudosciencehasimportancewellbeyondscienLficcircles.
EachdiscoveryhasbroughtpeopletothinkofnewideasandbroughtupnewissuesinthecredibilityofthenewscienLficdiscoveries.WhatisascienLfictruth?
ButnaturehastaughtusthroughhistoryhowtointerpretitsbeautyandwillconLnuetogiveusthetoolstodescribeitscomplexstructure.
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