Questions tagged [philosophy-of-science]
for applied philosophical questions about the study of science, the pursuit of scientific knowledge, and the scientific method
1,137
questions
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11 views
Prove the following facts about Conditionalization
Prove that when an agent conditionalizes on new evidence, her credence in a proposition that entails the evidence cannot decrease. That is, when H entails E, it must be the case that cr2(H)
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1answer
56 views
Where can I find arguments for animal rights?
I'm asking this question on behalf of https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/users/47/curi
I'm a philosopher (and programmer) attempting to research and diagram arguments relating to animal rights. I'm ...
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1answer
55 views
Confusion about the nature, defininition, and subject of study of Epistemology, Gnosiology and Phillosophy of Science
I am confused with the terms and the branches of phillosophy.
Here is an example where all 3 terms were used.
I always though phillosophy of science and epistemology were the exact same thing while ...
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0answers
71 views
Post-Positivism's Relationship to Post-Modernism
In A Nice Derangement of Epistemes by John H. Zammito, he attempts to "deflate" certain "extravagant gestures in philosophy of language" as he believes they "threaten to undermine indispensable canons ...
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1answer
32 views
Corroboration in Popper's system
Why corroboration gives to a theory increasing "value", as he states in his "logic of scientific discovery".
The question is simple, but I need a complex answer, one that can't be used to justify ...
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2answers
112 views
Epistemology and definition of Theory in Science
Which branch of philosophy is the authority and thus has the capacity to define what IS theory in science? I have linked to the definition of Theory by Simon Blackburn in Oxford Dictionary of ...
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8answers
5k views
Does every truth have to be provable based on evidence?
I know the answer is "no" in general due to Gödel's Theory of Incompleteness, but I mean this question in a more real-world sense (i.e. scientific sense). In other words, I am talking about empirical ...
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5answers
247 views
Has science ever disproved philosophical theories?
I am aware that science and philosophy, in their modern guise, are two separate beasts that never cross the same domains but sometimes it happens that philosophy influences science and that science ...
4
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3answers
170 views
Understanding Kant vs. Hume for a non-philosopher
I am trying to self-study a bit of philosophy. I am an applied mathematician by trade, and am therefore drawn to Kant's work on the limits of human knowledge, in particular his exchange with Hume. I ...
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3answers
175 views
How to reconcile that physicists and science educators use the word “theory” incompatibly?
When science denialists say "just a theory", they are roundly chastised. Science educators (teachers, reporters, essayists, etc) are united that the word theory has a strong requirement:
Berkeley: "a ...
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2answers
94 views
Please help with clarifying whether a science assumes the following axiom
It seems to me that the goal of science is to describe with the most precision the world we perceive through our senses. It seems to me that actually science has an axiom:
There exists some final ...
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4answers
77 views
When writing scientific papers Why there is not a standard to declare all the things based on which a person will argue?
Lets say I am a scientists and I want to write a scientific paper about some matter of a physics for example. In that paper I would say for example that the universe is expanding (or some other well ...
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1answer
42 views
Boltzmann brain - how are the laws of physics presented?
Does the Boltzmann brain scenario also assume that the laws of physics are presented consistently for each individual brain? In other words:
1) Why do we assume that the types of brains fluctuated ...
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2answers
88 views
Leo Strauss' Critique of Modern Science
I recently read Leo Strauss's views on modern science, as expanded in Alan Bloom's "The Closing of the American Mind". In a (very small) nutshell, Strauss had the extraordinary idea that modern ...
6
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2answers
587 views
What is the difference between 'accidental' and 'contingent'?
What is different between 'accidental' and 'contingent'?
I thought that accidental contains intentional notation while Contingent does not. But there could be an intentional action that turns out to ...
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2answers
51 views
What is Quine’s Confirmation theory?
I have just read that Quine relies on his confirmation theory to establish if a scientific theory is “valid” or not. But I am not sure to have understood what is Quine’s confirmation theory and why ...
2
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3answers
124 views
What kind of questions can science answer?
Please bear with me, as I am self-studying philosophy as a beginner.
My questions are about the limitations of empirical science.
During my reading of some books, I've come across statements of the ...
8
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3answers
3k views
Does Darwin owe a debt to Hegel?
I just realized that Darwin's theory of evolution is very much historicist, and resembles Hegel's notion of an arc of history: evolution is progressive and moves with purpose in an almost dialectical ...
3
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2answers
48 views
What is the difference between instrumentalism and operationalism?
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has the following definitions for these two perspectives on science:
Instrumentalism:
"the view that theories are merely instruments for predicting ...
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0answers
28 views
Why jain philosophy denies indeterminate stage of perception?
Ok ,so I'm reading now Indian philosophy and I found that Buddhism and many other Indian philosophy recognise both ' determinate and indeterminate stage of perception ' while jainas don't !
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1answer
93 views
Language and Sociology [closed]
Could someone systematically, methodologically, organisedly research Sociology, Civilisation, Culture through Language?
I.e The state of Language would be the observation and one would give a ...
0
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2answers
65 views
How are geometry and space related? [closed]
How are geometry and space related?
I am asking in what type of relationship are "space" and "geometry". I can think of the relationship "necessity", but it's a very general relationship. I can't ...
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4answers
262 views
Is it true that we are almost certainly Boltzmann Brains?
I read an article and I got curious about the topic of Boltzmann Brains.
I read some more articles and posts about the topic and it seems to me that the arguments are that BBs would outnumber us by ...
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2answers
79 views
Single theory in the natural sciences
I understand why in natural sciences multiple theories are required to have a better understanding of the natural world. Such as in physics to understand schrodingers wave function we need wave ...
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1answer
49 views
What are the main sources of the social constructivist view in the philosophy of science?
What are the main sources of the social constructivist view in the philosophy of science?
I am looking for the main books that introduce or develop this view of science.
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2answers
256 views
Is philosophy a science and can it prove facts like science?
I would like to know whether philosophy can be treated as science since both science and philosophy search for truth, but philosophical theories, I think, are not provable.
So my question is:
...
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1answer
79 views
What is pseudoscience? How is it different from non-science? [closed]
*** I searched the question here in Stack Exchange and it wasn't reasonable
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1answer
324 views
Noam Chomsky vs 9/11 Truth movement. Is Noam's Logic legit?
When Noam Chomsky was asked about what he thought about the collapse of building 7 at the University of Florida in 2013, he replied that only a minuscule part of the scientific community backed up the ...
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5answers
380 views
Do some philosophers believe there is no present, past, and future — and if so how on earth do they?
Nor does 20th (21st) -century physics countenance the idea that there is anything ontologically special about the past, as opposed to the present and the future. In fact, it fails to use these ...
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0answers
22 views
Question related to “construct validity”
Yet another quiz question. I feel so ignorant when I get such quizzes :(. The lecture notes are written in a non pedagogical way. This course is a compulsory course.
I would be happy to hear your ...
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0answers
30 views
Minimalist philosophical assumptions to reason, deductively/inductively
I've been thinking a lot about foundations of science recently and I was wondering.
Are there existing books/essays/works, or were there attempts that try to achieve the following:
With a ...
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0answers
15 views
Related to “vagueness” definition
We got quiz today in the classroom. One of the questions are given below. I would be happy to hear your feedback on my answers.
Which ones are true for "vague" definition?
It means that it ...
6
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7answers
304 views
Is mathematics a mental idea?
Is mathematics a mental idea?
According to this answer, a mental idea cannot exist without a mind.
If mathematics is a mental idea, what does this imply about the laws of physics which can be ...
2
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1answer
133 views
The Sartre Paradox
"According to Sartre, humans are the only beings that dont have an essence."
Do't look a little "weird" J.P Sartre, tells that the "Man is comdemned to be free", in case conjuring that, the freedom ...
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0answers
42 views
Question on Hypothetico-Deductive Method
I had another quiz related Hypothetico-Deductive (HD) Method. I couldn't answer this because the way it was posed is so baffling to me.
I am so sorry to ask all the basic questions (I think all ...
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1answer
44 views
Reasoning for Inductive inference?
Just out of curiosity, if I should replace the deductive inference related questions to inductive inference, then which are true?
Inductive inferences rearrange current knowledge in such a way that ...
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1answer
73 views
Scientific truth vs. mathematical truth
It is said that in the real world nothing can be proven to be absolutely true because there is always a way for a statement to be disproved by a counterargument. For example, a person "A" could say ...
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3answers
89 views
Does infinity imply uncertainty? (Or the other way around?)
This is a follow on question from my question here
Consider the hypotenuse of a right angle triangle where the opposite and adjacent sides both have length 1. The hypotenuse has length sqrt(2)... ...
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0answers
36 views
Quine's perspective on laws of nature
I am studying Lewis and his best system account of laws of nature so I am wondering what is Quine's viewpoint on laws on nature and if his perspective is similar to the lewisian one.
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0answers
28 views
Humean supervenience and Quine
I am wondering if Quine would adopt the Lewis' Humean supervenience theory to make sense of probability. Quine is a subjectivist about probability (even though regarding probability in QM he thinks ...
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2answers
74 views
What is the relationship between experience and science?
Say a farmer tries a new method on farming, and he realizes that this method makes all of his plants die. The next season, he tries again, with experience from the last season, he modifies the method ...
4
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3answers
995 views
Authors on the Credibility and Corruption of Modern Science
During the Renaissance and Industrial eras science was a way to remove superstition, religious misconception, and irrational fears. The scientific method was proved to be valid and available to ...
2
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2answers
388 views
A small reformulation of the Cosmological Argument
I am sure the cosmological argument has been raised here by people like me who know nothing about philosophy numerous times before on this board. But I'm wondering if a slightly different approach can ...
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2answers
88 views
What is conditional probability? [closed]
I need help understanding conditional probability. I was reading an answer here which talks about conditional probability. But, frankly I do not know what it is.
0
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2answers
116 views
Are formal sciences rationalistic and natural sciences empiricist?
As the title say, are the formal sciences (mathematics, logic, etc) fundamentally rationalistic while the natural ones (chemistry and physics) fundamentally empiricist?
Physics, Chemistry, and ...
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2answers
101 views
Philosophical papers based on modern cosmological theories
Einstein's theory of relativity was the big ground breaking discovery of the 20th century, and one of the most influential of all time.
He laid the foundations not only of all the physics and ...
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1answer
33 views
David Lewis and naturalism
I am studying Lewis and I am wondering what are the cornerstones of his philosophical perspective. In particular, I am wondering if Lewis is a naturalist like his supervisor Quine.
2
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3answers
76 views
Popper on probability
I cannot understand how and why Popper rejects the idea of a theory being "probably true".
If a theory can be -more likely- than another (as he states), it means that a theory is more likely to be ...
0
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4answers
105 views
How can one explain this conflict between philosophy and classical physics? [duplicate]
Consider two moving objects along X-axis direction with different speeds and different initial starting points. Let the initial distance of the objects be d0 and v1 is greater than v2 i.e v1>v2.
...
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43 views
Natural/Artificial distinction
Is there in reality a distinction between natural and man-made products?
Can airplane be considered natural as much as a squirel or a mountain?
