Philosophy of Science — Okasha (2nd ed.) and course readings — Study guide
EXAM STUDY GUIDE
Samir Okasha
Philosophy of Science
A Very Short Introduction (2nd edition, 2016) — chapter-by-chapter
summary, with the three course readings
Names · Examples · Terminology · Arguments and counter-arguments
Prepared for: Klejdi Filaj
Course: Philosophy of Science — Pre-master, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University
Sources: S. Okasha, Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction, second edition (Oxford
University Press, 2016), chapters 1–7 (Part I)
R. McGrath, 'Management's Three Eras: A Brief History' (HBR, 2014); J. Owens, 'An Introduction to
Critical Realism as a Meta-Theoretical Research Perspective' (KCL, 2011); J. Pfeffer & R. I. Sutton,
Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense (HBS Press, 2006), via G. Castellion's review
(JPIM, 2007) (Part II)
Page 1
, Philosophy of Science — Okasha (2nd ed.) and course readings — Study guide
Contents
Contents................................................................................................................................................2
How this guide is organized...................................................................................................................4
The book at a glance.........................................................................................................................4
The ideas that recur throughout the book.......................................................................................4
Part I — Okasha, Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction (2nd edition)................................6
Chapter 1 — What is science?...............................................................................................................7
1.1 Why the question is harder than it looks....................................................................................7
1.2 The origins of modern science (the scientific revolution, c. 1500–1750)....................................7
1.3 What is philosophy of science?...................................................................................................8
1.4 Science and pseudo-science: Popper's falsifiability criterion......................................................8
Names to know — Chapter 1............................................................................................................9
Key terms — Chapter 1.....................................................................................................................9
Chapter 2 — Scientific inference.........................................................................................................11
2.1 Deduction versus induction......................................................................................................11
2.2 Hume's problem.......................................................................................................................11
2.3 Inference to the best explanation (IBE)....................................................................................12
2.4 Causal inference.......................................................................................................................13
2.5 Probability and scientific inference (the Bayesian picture).......................................................13
Names to know — Chapter 2..........................................................................................................14
Examples to know — Chapter 2......................................................................................................15
Key terms — Chapter 2...................................................................................................................16
Chapter 3 — Explanation in science.....................................................................................................18
3.1 Why explanation matters..........................................................................................................18
3.2 Hempel's covering law model...................................................................................................18
3.3 Counter-examples: the model is too liberal..............................................................................18
3.4 Explanation and causality.........................................................................................................19
3.5 Can science explain everything?...............................................................................................19
3.6 Explanation and reduction........................................................................................................20
Names to know — Chapter 3..........................................................................................................20
Examples to know — Chapter 3......................................................................................................20
Key terms — Chapter 3...................................................................................................................21
Chapter 4 — Realism and anti-realism................................................................................................23
4.1 The positions.............................................................................................................................23
4.2 The 'no miracles' argument (for realism)..................................................................................23
4.3 The observable/unobservable distinction.................................................................................24
4.4 The underdetermination argument (for anti-realism)..............................................................24
Names to know — Chapter 4..........................................................................................................25
Key terms — Chapter 4...................................................................................................................26
Chapter 5 — Scientific change and scientific revolutions....................................................................27
5.1 Background: logical empiricist philosophy of science...............................................................27
5.2 Kuhn: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions...........................................................................27
5.3 The controversial philosophical theses.....................................................................................28
5.4 Kuhn's two arguments: incommensurability and theory-ladenness.........................................28
5.5 Kuhn and the rationality of science..........................................................................................29
5.6 Kuhn's legacy............................................................................................................................29
Names to know — Chapter 5..........................................................................................................30
Key terms — Chapter 5...................................................................................................................30
Chapter 6 — Philosophical problems in physics, biology, and psychology..........................................32
Page 2
, Philosophy of Science — Okasha (2nd ed.) and course readings — Study guide
6.1 Physics: Leibniz versus Newton on absolute space...................................................................32
6.2 Biology: what are biological species?........................................................................................33
6.3 Psychology: is the mind modular?............................................................................................34
Names to know — Chapter 6..........................................................................................................36
Key terms — Chapter 6...................................................................................................................37
Chapter 7 — Science and its critics......................................................................................................39
7.1 Scientism...................................................................................................................................39
7.2 Science and religion..................................................................................................................40
7.3 Is science value-free?................................................................................................................41
Names to know — Chapter 7..........................................................................................................43
Key terms — Chapter 7...................................................................................................................43
Part II — The three course readings....................................................................................................45
Reading 1 — McGrath, 'Management's Three Eras: A Brief History' (HBR, 30 July 2014)....................46
R1.1 The legacy of 'organization as machine'.................................................................................46
R1.2 Before management: the pre-industrial world.......................................................................46
R1.3 Era 1 — Execution...................................................................................................................46
R1.4 Era 2 — Expertise....................................................................................................................47
R1.5 Era 3 — Empathy....................................................................................................................47
Names to know — McGrath...........................................................................................................47
Key terms — McGrath....................................................................................................................48
How McGrath connects to Okasha.................................................................................................49
Reading 2 — Owens, 'An Introduction to Critical Realism as a Meta-Theoretical Research Perspective'
(2011)..................................................................................................................................................50
R2.1 Why meta-theory matters......................................................................................................50
R2.2 Positivism................................................................................................................................50
R2.3 Constructionism......................................................................................................................51
R2.4 Critical realism (i): transcendental realism against positivism................................................51
R2.5 Critical realism (ii): critical naturalism against constructionism..............................................52
Names to know — Owens..............................................................................................................54
Key terms — Owens.......................................................................................................................54
How Owens connects to Okasha....................................................................................................55
Reading 3 — Pfeffer & Sutton, Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense (2006), as
reviewed by Castellion (2007).............................................................................................................57
R3.1 The diagnostic question: 'What happens when people fail?'..................................................57
R3.2 Part 1 — 'Setting the Stage': three flawed bases for decisions...............................................57
R3.3 Six guidelines for evaluating management ideas (chapter 2).................................................58
R3.4 Part 2 — the six 'dangerous half-truths'.................................................................................58
R3.5 Part 3 — 'From Evidence to Action'........................................................................................59
Names to know — Pfeffer & Sutton / Castellion.............................................................................59
Key terms — Pfeffer & Sutton.........................................................................................................59
How Pfeffer & Sutton connect to Okasha.......................................................................................60
Cross-chapter map: how the arguments connect................................................................................62
Where the three readings attach to the book................................................................................63
Master index of names........................................................................................................................64
Names in the three readings..........................................................................................................66
Page 3
, Philosophy of Science — Okasha (2nd ed.) and course readings — Study guide
How this guide is organized
Part I covers the seven chapters of Okasha; Part II covers the three course readings (McGrath 2014,
Owens 2011, Pfeffer & Sutton 2006) in the same format, each ending with a section on how it
connects to Okasha. Each chapter section below follows the same structure: a one-paragraph
statement of the chapter's central question; the argument of the chapter in order, with every named
thinker, example and technical term the book uses; a Names to know table; a Key terms table; and
an Exam checkpoints box listing the points most likely to be tested. Two reference sections close the
guide: a cross-chapter map showing which ideas recur across chapters and which readings attach to
which chapters (these connections are the material for essay-type questions), and a master index of
names for the book and for the readings.
Text in bold marks a term or name that is worth reproducing verbatim in an exam answer. Direct
quotations from Okasha are given in single quotation marks. Where the book's text contains a
factual slip that a marker might notice (e.g. the date of Kuhn's Structure), both the book's figure and
the standard one are given.
The book at a glance
Ch. Title Central question Key names
1 What is science? Is there a feature all sciences share? Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo,
Can science be demarcated from Descartes, Newton, Darwin, Popper,
pseudo-science? Eddington, Adams & Leverrier,
Wittgenstein
2 Scientific inference What is scientific inference — Hume, Popper, Strawson, Ramsey,
deduction, induction, IBE, causal Darwin, Einstein, Fisher, Bayes
inference, Bayesian updating?
3 Explanation in science What is it for science to explain Hempel, Hume, Dennett (McGinn,
something? Can it explain everything? Fodor in reading)
Does everything reduce to physics?
4 Realism and anti-realism Does science aim at truth about Putnam, Laudan, Maxwell, van
unobservable reality, or only at Fraassen, Huygens, Fresnel
empirically adequate theories?
5 Scientific change and How does science change? Is it rational Kuhn, the logical empiricists, Kekulé,
scientific revolutions and cumulative? Newton/Einstein
6 Problems in physics, Absolute space? What is a species? Is Newton, Leibniz, Linnaeus, Mayr,
biology, psychology the mind modular? Hennig, Ghiselin & Hull, Maynard
Smith, Chomsky, Fodor
7 Science and its critics Is science over-valued (scientism)? Russell, Dilthey & Weber, Galileo,
Science vs religion? Is science value- intelligent design, Buss, Wilson vs
free? Lewontin & Gould, Szasz
The ideas that recur throughout the book
• Non-deductive inference (Ch 2) — data never entail theory. This single point reappears as
underdetermination (Ch 4), as the answer to 'Darwinism is just a theory' (Ch 7), and as an
argument that theory choice involves values (Ch 7).
Page 4
EXAM STUDY GUIDE
Samir Okasha
Philosophy of Science
A Very Short Introduction (2nd edition, 2016) — chapter-by-chapter
summary, with the three course readings
Names · Examples · Terminology · Arguments and counter-arguments
Prepared for: Klejdi Filaj
Course: Philosophy of Science — Pre-master, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University
Sources: S. Okasha, Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction, second edition (Oxford
University Press, 2016), chapters 1–7 (Part I)
R. McGrath, 'Management's Three Eras: A Brief History' (HBR, 2014); J. Owens, 'An Introduction to
Critical Realism as a Meta-Theoretical Research Perspective' (KCL, 2011); J. Pfeffer & R. I. Sutton,
Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense (HBS Press, 2006), via G. Castellion's review
(JPIM, 2007) (Part II)
Page 1
, Philosophy of Science — Okasha (2nd ed.) and course readings — Study guide
Contents
Contents................................................................................................................................................2
How this guide is organized...................................................................................................................4
The book at a glance.........................................................................................................................4
The ideas that recur throughout the book.......................................................................................4
Part I — Okasha, Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction (2nd edition)................................6
Chapter 1 — What is science?...............................................................................................................7
1.1 Why the question is harder than it looks....................................................................................7
1.2 The origins of modern science (the scientific revolution, c. 1500–1750)....................................7
1.3 What is philosophy of science?...................................................................................................8
1.4 Science and pseudo-science: Popper's falsifiability criterion......................................................8
Names to know — Chapter 1............................................................................................................9
Key terms — Chapter 1.....................................................................................................................9
Chapter 2 — Scientific inference.........................................................................................................11
2.1 Deduction versus induction......................................................................................................11
2.2 Hume's problem.......................................................................................................................11
2.3 Inference to the best explanation (IBE)....................................................................................12
2.4 Causal inference.......................................................................................................................13
2.5 Probability and scientific inference (the Bayesian picture).......................................................13
Names to know — Chapter 2..........................................................................................................14
Examples to know — Chapter 2......................................................................................................15
Key terms — Chapter 2...................................................................................................................16
Chapter 3 — Explanation in science.....................................................................................................18
3.1 Why explanation matters..........................................................................................................18
3.2 Hempel's covering law model...................................................................................................18
3.3 Counter-examples: the model is too liberal..............................................................................18
3.4 Explanation and causality.........................................................................................................19
3.5 Can science explain everything?...............................................................................................19
3.6 Explanation and reduction........................................................................................................20
Names to know — Chapter 3..........................................................................................................20
Examples to know — Chapter 3......................................................................................................20
Key terms — Chapter 3...................................................................................................................21
Chapter 4 — Realism and anti-realism................................................................................................23
4.1 The positions.............................................................................................................................23
4.2 The 'no miracles' argument (for realism)..................................................................................23
4.3 The observable/unobservable distinction.................................................................................24
4.4 The underdetermination argument (for anti-realism)..............................................................24
Names to know — Chapter 4..........................................................................................................25
Key terms — Chapter 4...................................................................................................................26
Chapter 5 — Scientific change and scientific revolutions....................................................................27
5.1 Background: logical empiricist philosophy of science...............................................................27
5.2 Kuhn: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions...........................................................................27
5.3 The controversial philosophical theses.....................................................................................28
5.4 Kuhn's two arguments: incommensurability and theory-ladenness.........................................28
5.5 Kuhn and the rationality of science..........................................................................................29
5.6 Kuhn's legacy............................................................................................................................29
Names to know — Chapter 5..........................................................................................................30
Key terms — Chapter 5...................................................................................................................30
Chapter 6 — Philosophical problems in physics, biology, and psychology..........................................32
Page 2
, Philosophy of Science — Okasha (2nd ed.) and course readings — Study guide
6.1 Physics: Leibniz versus Newton on absolute space...................................................................32
6.2 Biology: what are biological species?........................................................................................33
6.3 Psychology: is the mind modular?............................................................................................34
Names to know — Chapter 6..........................................................................................................36
Key terms — Chapter 6...................................................................................................................37
Chapter 7 — Science and its critics......................................................................................................39
7.1 Scientism...................................................................................................................................39
7.2 Science and religion..................................................................................................................40
7.3 Is science value-free?................................................................................................................41
Names to know — Chapter 7..........................................................................................................43
Key terms — Chapter 7...................................................................................................................43
Part II — The three course readings....................................................................................................45
Reading 1 — McGrath, 'Management's Three Eras: A Brief History' (HBR, 30 July 2014)....................46
R1.1 The legacy of 'organization as machine'.................................................................................46
R1.2 Before management: the pre-industrial world.......................................................................46
R1.3 Era 1 — Execution...................................................................................................................46
R1.4 Era 2 — Expertise....................................................................................................................47
R1.5 Era 3 — Empathy....................................................................................................................47
Names to know — McGrath...........................................................................................................47
Key terms — McGrath....................................................................................................................48
How McGrath connects to Okasha.................................................................................................49
Reading 2 — Owens, 'An Introduction to Critical Realism as a Meta-Theoretical Research Perspective'
(2011)..................................................................................................................................................50
R2.1 Why meta-theory matters......................................................................................................50
R2.2 Positivism................................................................................................................................50
R2.3 Constructionism......................................................................................................................51
R2.4 Critical realism (i): transcendental realism against positivism................................................51
R2.5 Critical realism (ii): critical naturalism against constructionism..............................................52
Names to know — Owens..............................................................................................................54
Key terms — Owens.......................................................................................................................54
How Owens connects to Okasha....................................................................................................55
Reading 3 — Pfeffer & Sutton, Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense (2006), as
reviewed by Castellion (2007).............................................................................................................57
R3.1 The diagnostic question: 'What happens when people fail?'..................................................57
R3.2 Part 1 — 'Setting the Stage': three flawed bases for decisions...............................................57
R3.3 Six guidelines for evaluating management ideas (chapter 2).................................................58
R3.4 Part 2 — the six 'dangerous half-truths'.................................................................................58
R3.5 Part 3 — 'From Evidence to Action'........................................................................................59
Names to know — Pfeffer & Sutton / Castellion.............................................................................59
Key terms — Pfeffer & Sutton.........................................................................................................59
How Pfeffer & Sutton connect to Okasha.......................................................................................60
Cross-chapter map: how the arguments connect................................................................................62
Where the three readings attach to the book................................................................................63
Master index of names........................................................................................................................64
Names in the three readings..........................................................................................................66
Page 3
, Philosophy of Science — Okasha (2nd ed.) and course readings — Study guide
How this guide is organized
Part I covers the seven chapters of Okasha; Part II covers the three course readings (McGrath 2014,
Owens 2011, Pfeffer & Sutton 2006) in the same format, each ending with a section on how it
connects to Okasha. Each chapter section below follows the same structure: a one-paragraph
statement of the chapter's central question; the argument of the chapter in order, with every named
thinker, example and technical term the book uses; a Names to know table; a Key terms table; and
an Exam checkpoints box listing the points most likely to be tested. Two reference sections close the
guide: a cross-chapter map showing which ideas recur across chapters and which readings attach to
which chapters (these connections are the material for essay-type questions), and a master index of
names for the book and for the readings.
Text in bold marks a term or name that is worth reproducing verbatim in an exam answer. Direct
quotations from Okasha are given in single quotation marks. Where the book's text contains a
factual slip that a marker might notice (e.g. the date of Kuhn's Structure), both the book's figure and
the standard one are given.
The book at a glance
Ch. Title Central question Key names
1 What is science? Is there a feature all sciences share? Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo,
Can science be demarcated from Descartes, Newton, Darwin, Popper,
pseudo-science? Eddington, Adams & Leverrier,
Wittgenstein
2 Scientific inference What is scientific inference — Hume, Popper, Strawson, Ramsey,
deduction, induction, IBE, causal Darwin, Einstein, Fisher, Bayes
inference, Bayesian updating?
3 Explanation in science What is it for science to explain Hempel, Hume, Dennett (McGinn,
something? Can it explain everything? Fodor in reading)
Does everything reduce to physics?
4 Realism and anti-realism Does science aim at truth about Putnam, Laudan, Maxwell, van
unobservable reality, or only at Fraassen, Huygens, Fresnel
empirically adequate theories?
5 Scientific change and How does science change? Is it rational Kuhn, the logical empiricists, Kekulé,
scientific revolutions and cumulative? Newton/Einstein
6 Problems in physics, Absolute space? What is a species? Is Newton, Leibniz, Linnaeus, Mayr,
biology, psychology the mind modular? Hennig, Ghiselin & Hull, Maynard
Smith, Chomsky, Fodor
7 Science and its critics Is science over-valued (scientism)? Russell, Dilthey & Weber, Galileo,
Science vs religion? Is science value- intelligent design, Buss, Wilson vs
free? Lewontin & Gould, Szasz
The ideas that recur throughout the book
• Non-deductive inference (Ch 2) — data never entail theory. This single point reappears as
underdetermination (Ch 4), as the answer to 'Darwinism is just a theory' (Ch 7), and as an
argument that theory choice involves values (Ch 7).
Page 4
