Lecture Two The Rational Reconstruction Program of Science

Jeremiah Joven Joaquin Science, Technology and Society 1 2T 2011-2012

The Demarcation Problem (again)

Can we distinguish, in a principled way, between sciences, on the one hand, and nonsciences and pseudosciences, on the other hand?

Science, Non-science and Pseudoscience

Physics Chemistry Biology Social Sciences Literature Arts Astrology Alchemy Teleology

Alternatively,
What, if any, is the special mark which distinguishes science from other disciplines? What characterizes science?

Science textbooks tell us that

In doing science, scientists first observes, then he formulates a problem concerning his observation. He thinks out a possible explanation, or hypothesis, which he then tests with experiments. The experiments then prove or disprove his hypothesis, and if it is proved, he can state a law.

Wikipedia tells us that (lol)

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe Actually this comes from the Oxford English Dictionary

Lets break it down

Science is a systematic enterprise
it correlates many separate facts in a logical structure of thought

 Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge

it suggests some new relations between old and new facts

 Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions
its claims and predictions could be verified through experiments and observation

 Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe
it is about known or unknown physical facts.

Science
correlates many separate (physical) facts in a logical, easily grasped structure of thought. suggests new relations between old and new facts. permits us to deduce predictions that actually check with experience by test, and it is useful for solving long-standing puzzles and quantitative problems

From these features, we could somehow see a method of science

Gathering information: direct or instrument-aided observation, measurement, case studies, field studies, experiments Organizing gathered information: classifications, measurement scales, models, theories, paradigms Alternative modes of organization: refinement, reduction, replacement Accounting phenomena: explanation, prediction, control Data enhancement/extrapolation: evidence, confirmation, falsification, hypothesis testing

Some more ideas about science

A successful scientific theory has simple and few assumptions (i.e. it is parsimonious). These assumptions are in accord with current well-established principles (i.e. they are intersubjectively acceptable). It accommodates modifications and revisions (i.e. a discipline is scientific iff it is flexible).

Scientific Method Inductive

Deduction
Conclusions follow logically from the premises From general claims we derive particular claims

Induction
Conclusions follow with high probability from the premises From particular claims we derive general claims

Foundations of this idea of science

In the early part of the 1920s, inspired the breakthroughs made by science, specially that of Einsteins theory, a group of young scientists, mathematicians, and philosophers thought of a way of answering the demarcation problem. This group is known as the Logical Empiricists.

The Logical Empiricists (Positivists) and the Rational Reconstruction Program

Logical Empiricism aimed at justifying the epistemic claims of science by reconstructing how science works. Two important concepts to note here:
Empiricism = the idea that all knowledge comes from experience Logic = the belief that formal systems could help in understanding how science works

Logical Empiricism and Verifiability

Logical Empiricists were scientifically-oriented thinkers, and they thought that what makes science special is that there is a special principle behind it. The Principle of Verifiability
Meaningful statements are the main objects of scientific discourse; they are statements which contain a proposition (they could either be true or false) Meaning is determined by a given mode of verification
Logic = Analytical statements (necessarily true) Experiments = Empirical statements (contingently true)

Logical Empiricism and what counts as science

Only empirical statements count as scientific statements Observation statements could be translated into a theoretical statement such that the latter will be part of a theory A theory is scientific if the theoretical statements are based from the observation statements

So again, science
correlates many separate (physical) facts in a logical, easily grasped structure of thought. suggests new relations between old and new facts. permits us to deduce predictions that actually check with experience by test, and it is useful for solving long-standing puzzles and quantitative problems

And yet again, we see the method

Gathering information: direct or instrument-aided observation, measurement, case studies, field studies, experiments Organizing gathered information: classifications, measurement scales, models, theories, paradigms Alternative modes of organization: refinement, reduction, replacement Accounting phenomena: explanation, prediction, control Data enhancement/extrapolation: evidence, confirmation, falsification, hypothesis testing

Poppers criticism
Lets consider Poppers criticism of the Logical Empiricists picture of science What conclusions did Popper arrive at? And how do they relate to the rational reconstruction program of the logical empiricists?

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