Welcome!
Philosophy of Science
Prof. James W. McAllister • Introducing…
• Your lecturer
Week 1 • This course “Philosophy of Science”
• See Brightspace for:
Ways of Knowing
• Complete programme
• Links to the prescribed readings
• Recordings of the lectures
• Tutorial assignments
2
Why “Philosophy of science”? Ascent to abstraction
• Two reasons for this course
• First, it helps you to reflect on your
scientific practice:
• How do different disciplines conceptualise
the world?
• What does it means to have knowledge?
• How do scientists reason?
• Second, it equips you to develop
solutions to problems as yet unknown • Philosophy of science is higher abstraction
• Equipping you to meet problems coming over
3 the horizon 4
, Overview of the course I. The basics
• This course is composed of: • Lecture 1: Ways of knowing
• 11 lectures grouped in five themes • Variety of the natural sciences, social
• one question period sciences, and humanities
• Nomothetic and idiographic approaches
• Lecture 2: Knowledge, truth, and facts
• Focus on propositional knowledge: “I know
that p”
• Account of knowledge as justified true belief
• Correspondence theory of truth
5 6
II. Some scientific devices III. Models of scientific practice
• Lecture 3: Scientific laws and induction • Lecture 5: Falsificationism
• Nomothetic approach—in social sciences • Karl R. Popper: science as trial and error
and humanities too • Demarcation of science from non-science
• Induction vs. deduction • Lecture 6: Paradigms and revolutions
• Hume’s problem of induction and a • Thomas S. Kuhn: theory-ladenness of
pragmatic response observation
• Lecture 4: Explanations and causes • Normal science: paradigms and puzzles
• Models of explanation: deductive- • Scientific revolutions, incommensurability
nomological, inductive-statistical, etc.
• Focus on causal explanation
7 8
, IV. Methodological tool-box V. Rationality and culture
• Lecture 7: Methodology of analogies • Lecture 9: Rationality
and models • Rational choice theory and responses to it
• Analogies consist of mappings and relations • Bounded rationality, role of emotion
• Models: idealized depictions of reality • Lecture 10: Interpretation and
• … often based on analogies understanding
• Lecture 8: Quantitative and qualitative • Idiographic approach: Wilhelm Dilthey
approaches • Lecture 11: Absolutism and relativism
• Their use in hypothesis formulation and test • Does validity depend on background?
• Case study methodology • Relativism about rationality
• Question period
9 10
Overview of this lecture Motivation of this lecture
• Three groups of sciences • In International studies…
• Natural sciences, humanities, social • You are required to deal with knowledge
sciences from many disciplines
• Their characteristics, strengths, and blind • Humanities, social sciences—and even
spots natural sciences
• Distinction between two approaches to • It is essential that you know what kinds
describe the world of knowledge these disciplines produce
• Nomothetic and idiographic
11 12
, Reading for this lecture Ways of knowing
• Jerome Kagan, The Three Cultures: • These include:
Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and • Epistemologies of different cultures
the Humanities in the 21st Century • Knowledge incorporated in artworks, such
• Cambridge University Press, 2009 as novels and poetry
• Read chapter 1, “Characterizing the Three • People’s everyday and tacit knowledge
Cultures”, pp. 1–50 • We focus here on the mainstream
• Available on Brightspace Western sciences
• A remark on the readings • … and their diversity
• … and how to tackle them
13 14
Three groups of sciences Natural sciences 1
• Natural sciences • Ancient intellectual endeavours
• Physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy… • Astronomy arose in Babylonia, 1200 BCE
Modern natural sciences developed partly
• Humanities •
from Chinese, Indian, and Islamic sources
• History, history of art, linguistics, literary in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
studies, philosophy, religious studies…
“Scientific revolution”
Social sciences
•
•
• Europe, 1550–1700
• Sociology, political science, economics,
psychology, anthropology…
15 16
Philosophy of Science
Prof. James W. McAllister • Introducing…
• Your lecturer
Week 1 • This course “Philosophy of Science”
• See Brightspace for:
Ways of Knowing
• Complete programme
• Links to the prescribed readings
• Recordings of the lectures
• Tutorial assignments
2
Why “Philosophy of science”? Ascent to abstraction
• Two reasons for this course
• First, it helps you to reflect on your
scientific practice:
• How do different disciplines conceptualise
the world?
• What does it means to have knowledge?
• How do scientists reason?
• Second, it equips you to develop
solutions to problems as yet unknown • Philosophy of science is higher abstraction
• Equipping you to meet problems coming over
3 the horizon 4
, Overview of the course I. The basics
• This course is composed of: • Lecture 1: Ways of knowing
• 11 lectures grouped in five themes • Variety of the natural sciences, social
• one question period sciences, and humanities
• Nomothetic and idiographic approaches
• Lecture 2: Knowledge, truth, and facts
• Focus on propositional knowledge: “I know
that p”
• Account of knowledge as justified true belief
• Correspondence theory of truth
5 6
II. Some scientific devices III. Models of scientific practice
• Lecture 3: Scientific laws and induction • Lecture 5: Falsificationism
• Nomothetic approach—in social sciences • Karl R. Popper: science as trial and error
and humanities too • Demarcation of science from non-science
• Induction vs. deduction • Lecture 6: Paradigms and revolutions
• Hume’s problem of induction and a • Thomas S. Kuhn: theory-ladenness of
pragmatic response observation
• Lecture 4: Explanations and causes • Normal science: paradigms and puzzles
• Models of explanation: deductive- • Scientific revolutions, incommensurability
nomological, inductive-statistical, etc.
• Focus on causal explanation
7 8
, IV. Methodological tool-box V. Rationality and culture
• Lecture 7: Methodology of analogies • Lecture 9: Rationality
and models • Rational choice theory and responses to it
• Analogies consist of mappings and relations • Bounded rationality, role of emotion
• Models: idealized depictions of reality • Lecture 10: Interpretation and
• … often based on analogies understanding
• Lecture 8: Quantitative and qualitative • Idiographic approach: Wilhelm Dilthey
approaches • Lecture 11: Absolutism and relativism
• Their use in hypothesis formulation and test • Does validity depend on background?
• Case study methodology • Relativism about rationality
• Question period
9 10
Overview of this lecture Motivation of this lecture
• Three groups of sciences • In International studies…
• Natural sciences, humanities, social • You are required to deal with knowledge
sciences from many disciplines
• Their characteristics, strengths, and blind • Humanities, social sciences—and even
spots natural sciences
• Distinction between two approaches to • It is essential that you know what kinds
describe the world of knowledge these disciplines produce
• Nomothetic and idiographic
11 12
, Reading for this lecture Ways of knowing
• Jerome Kagan, The Three Cultures: • These include:
Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and • Epistemologies of different cultures
the Humanities in the 21st Century • Knowledge incorporated in artworks, such
• Cambridge University Press, 2009 as novels and poetry
• Read chapter 1, “Characterizing the Three • People’s everyday and tacit knowledge
Cultures”, pp. 1–50 • We focus here on the mainstream
• Available on Brightspace Western sciences
• A remark on the readings • … and their diversity
• … and how to tackle them
13 14
Three groups of sciences Natural sciences 1
• Natural sciences • Ancient intellectual endeavours
• Physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy… • Astronomy arose in Babylonia, 1200 BCE
Modern natural sciences developed partly
• Humanities •
from Chinese, Indian, and Islamic sources
• History, history of art, linguistics, literary in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
studies, philosophy, religious studies…
“Scientific revolution”
Social sciences
•
•
• Europe, 1550–1700
• Sociology, political science, economics,
psychology, anthropology…
15 16
