10b Michell Conceptual analysis and behaviour notes Flashcards
What is the ideology of empiricism?
That all knowledge derives from observation.
What is the ideology of scientism?
The idea that measurement and experiment are the scientific methods of observation –and are all that is required for scientific progress.
In what way did Descartes dualism delay psychology?
By suggesting that the mind was a separate entity that did not obey physical laws.
What are the two kinds of criticism that scientific ideas can be subjected to?
Logical – conceptual
Empirical –observational
In order for a suggestion to be genuinely scientific, what must it do?
It must propose a workable causal mechanism. Anything which could not possibly be a real mechanism or which proposes processes beyond our understanding is not a genuine scientific suggestion.
In what way is Creationism not a genuine scientific suggestion?
It suggests no workable mechanism whereby a divine being who transcends space and time created the various species that exist within space and time.
Logical criticism considers the _______ of concepts, the _________ of propositions and the ________ _________ of systems of propositions.
Logical criticism considers the clarity of concepts, the intelligibility of propositions and the mutual coherence of systems of propositions.
What is the aim of empirical appraisal?
To investigate whether the possible, proposed mechanism under consideration is the actual one at work in the system involved.
Is the experimental method suitable to all sciences?
No, there are many in which it is not suitable –astronomy, geology. Those sciences where there is little control over the causal mechanism of the system.
