Chapter 1: Why study philosophy of science Flashcards
Philosophy of science
It tackles question of the nature of scientific knowledge
Empirical social research
It uses methods (interviews, surveys…)
A false idea is that core of the research is based in statistical analysis
Positivists: Empirical method is the only valid position
Modern philosophers of science: They think it’s flawed (défectueux)
Fallacies
It is a default in an argument that cause it to be invalid or weak
What is reasonable?
(Methodological view)
Methodology: Science looking for the best methods in every discipline
Battle between quantitative (statistical analysis, data) and qualitative research methods
Errors can happen with numbers due to fallacies. So, most people reason by representation heuristic (shortcut)
Intuition: It provides answers, but it is not verifiable, controllable and hence not used in scientific research
What is reasonable?
(Epistemological view)
Epistemology: It deals with status of knowledge acquired, concerned when something is an opinion, suspicion or whether it is knowledge
Phenomena
Scientists try to make predictions about phenomena but it doesn’t work in most cases
When phenomena connected to each other, they have a cause and effect relationship. But unclear why it’s the case. Does these predictions have scientific value?
What is reasonable?
(Ontological view)
Ontology: Where assumptions are made concerning the nature of reality.
Central question: How do entities and phenomena exist in reality?
Realism vs idealism
Idealism: Point of view assuming that all-natural phenomena are nothing more than ideas/mental representations projected into reality
All knowledge comes from experience but we need to structure that experience
Realism: Objects and phenomena are independent of the observers, but that perceptions of reality have already been formed
Kantian realism and pre-shapedness of observation
Kant said objective knowledge is possible because brain observes, forms things in a certain way
Observations based on time and place to get a grip on reality. Hence two successive events like cause and effects can be seen
Kant=Idealist–>what one sees in studying reality is dependent on the mental categories with which one tries to grasp reality
What makes a logical argument?
It’s a process of creating a new statement from one or more existing statements.
An argument proceeds from a set of premises to a conclusion, by means of logical implication, via a procedure called logical inference
What’s ontology?
Study of being and existence
What’s epistemology?
Study of knowledge and what can we know from reality
What does social ontology do or say?
Do:
Looks at the question of what really exists; whether social reality is as real as natural reality
Say:
Social institutions do really exist; qualitatively they’re different from natural reality; natural facts (water, CO2,) exist without humans vs institutional facts (money, firm performance) exist because of humans; institutional facts exist because of our collective intentions toward them
What does a Normative Theory do?
Has the ambition to explain world as it is. “What ought to be”; world-to-theory fit
What is usually the Relationship between the degree of confirmation of a statement and its empirical content?
Usually they are inversely correlated, the higher the degree of confirmation, the narrower the scope of the theory and the lower its empirical content
What does positive theory do?
Has the ambition to explain world as it is. “What is”; theory-to-world fit
