Philosophy of the Natural Sciences Kuipers + Atkinson, Nieuwpoort

Philosophy of the Natural Sciences
Kuipers + Atkinson, Nieuwpoort, van Delden
www.rug.nl/filosofie/finat
• Obligatory Litterature
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General
Theo Kuipers, Structures in Scientific Cognition (SSC)
Specific
Reader relativiteitstheorie, molecuultheorie en evolutietheorie
One at choice:
Lawrence Sklar, Philosophy of Physics, Oxford UP, 20022
Jaap van Brakel, Philosophy of Chemistry, Leuven UP, 2000
Elliott Sober, Philosophy of Biology, Westview Press, 200021
Recommended Litterature
- General:
--Theo Kuipers, Structures in Science. Heuristic Patterns based
on Cognitive Structures, Synthese Library, Vol. 301, Kluwer
AP, Dordrecht, 2001
-- Merrilee Salmon et al., Introduction to the Philosophy of
Science, Hacket Publishing Cy, Indianapolis/Cambridge,
(1992) 1999 (reprint)
-- Specific:
see: www.rug.nl/filosofie/finat
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Schedule
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Nov. 11
Nov. 18
Nov. 25
Dec. 2
Dec. 9
Dec. 16
Jan. 6
Jan. 13
Jan. 20
Jan. 27
K
Atkinson:
K
K
Nieuwpoort
K
K
van Delden
K
examination
structures 1
relativity
structures 2
explanations 1
molecules
explanations 2
methods 1
evolution
methods 2
SSC: S. 1/2/10/12
Reader, part 1
SSC: S. 1/2/10/12
SSC: S. 3/4/5/6
Reader, part 2
SSC: S. 3/4/5/6
SSC: S. 7/8/9/11/13
Reader, part 3
SSC: S. 7/8/9/11/13
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Examination
• January 27, 2004: 16.00-18.00/19.00?
• Resit: tba
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Possible parallels/continuations 2003/4
(Q1/2/3: first/second/third quarter; EC: Europian Creditpoint;
BC/MC: Bachelor / Master Course)
• Romeyn: Analytische Wetenschapsfilosofie (Q4, 2.5EC, BC2)
• Kuipers: Generalisten lezen met een wetenschapsfilosofische
bril (Q2, 5EC, BC3)
• Keijzer&Tamminga: Philosophy of neuroscience (Q2; 5 EC; MC)
• Kuipers & Romeyn: How to approach the truth (Q3; 5 EC; MC)
• Other options: J. Hilgevoord: Over de ruimte (StGen.10/11-1/12)
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Possible continuations 2004/5
• The same +
• Tamminga & Dooremalen: Cognitive Structures with
emphasis on mind/body research (Q1, 5EC, BC2/3)
• Kuipers et al.: Filosofie van de sociale wetenschappen (Q?,
5EC, BC3)
• Kooi: Computational Philosophy (of Science) (Q?, 5EC, MC)
• D’Agostino: Reason ……...(Q2, 5EC, BC/MC)
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L1: Introduction + Structures in
researchprograms, theories and laws (1)
• Introduction Philosophy of Science (PoS):
some general questions (SSC: Introduction, 3-5)
– what are scientific theories?
– what is a scientific explanation?
– are scientific claims justifiable or falsifiable?
• how do scientific theories change?
• how are old and new theories related?
• how are theories of different fields related?
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PoS as part of “science of science” =
cognitive + social studies of science
• philosophy of science => cognitive structures
– structure of products: laws, theories, r. programs
– structure of reasoning processes: explanations
– structure of validity relations: methods
• => computational philosophy of science
• history of science
• sociology of science
• psychology of science
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PoS as part of Philosophy
• other relevant subdisciplines
– logic
– metaphysics (e.g. ontology)
– epistemology
– value theory (e.g. ethics, aesthetics)
– social philosophy (e.g. social epistemology)
• many views and disputes
• analytic tradition
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Use-values PoS-cognitive structures
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‘null hypothesis’ of ideal courses of events
solving classical philosophical problems
didactic instruments for textbooks
heuristic role in research&science policy
heuristic role in actual research
– cognitive structures as
heuristic patterns = schematic anticipations
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20th century history PoS
• Logical Positivism / Empiricism: Wiener Kreis
(Carnap c.s) + Berliner Gruppe (Reichenbach c.s)
• Hempel, Nagel
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Logical: Frege, Russell
Positivism: Comte; Empiricism: Hume
CoD vs CoJ :Context of Discovery vs Justification
logical reconstruction of CoJ
• Critical Rationalism: Popper
• Descriptive/Historical turn: Kuhn/Lakatos etc.
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Post-merely-normative PoS
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From (merely) normative to (also) descriptive/historical
Kuhn: paradigms (normal vs revolutionary science)
Feyerabend: ‘anything goes’ (cf. one method)
Lakatos: research programs
Laudan: research traditions
Context of Discovery (CoD-)studies
Alternatives or concretizations?
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Research programs and strategies
SSC, S1 (5-9), App. 1A-1C (47-51)
• Research programs (RP’s)
– 4 ideal types: descriptive/explanatory/design/explicative
– atomic theory: structure and development
• Research strategies
– idealization and concretization
– interaction: competition/coöperation
– interdisciplinary research
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Examples
• Descriptive RP’s
– thermostatics
– periodic table
– human genome project
• Explanatory RP’s
– statistical mechanics
– atomic theory
– genetic theory
• Design RP’s
– nuclear fusion
– new materials
– genetic modification
• Explicative RP’s
– causal explanation
– reductive explanation
– functional explanation
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Similarities and differences
• PM: Ideal types
– descriptive / explanatory / design / explicative
• Similarities and differences
– all have an internal goal
– directly vs indirectly characterized
– some or no degrees of freedom
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Development
• Phases, with corresponding success criteria
– internal phase
• heuristic and evaluative subphase
– external phase, directed at
• science external goal or some other program
• Core theory + specific theories
• Revisions of (specific) theories
• Research traditions (Laudan)
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Summary
research tradition
research-
RP1
RP2
RP3
RP*
DesignRP
T2.3.1
T2.4.1 T2.5.1
T2.3.2
T.2.4.2
programs
core theory
specific
CT2
T2.1.1
T2.2.1
theories
revisions
phases
T2.1.2
internal
external
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Dogmatic behavior
Kuhn/Lakatos: SSC, App. 8A (79-81)
• Improvement principle (IP)
• Programmatic improvement principle (PIP)
– aim at a better theory with the same hard core
– if necessary, adapt the hard core
– if no other option, look for another program
• (P)IP functional for empirical progress and truth approxination
• Types of dogmatic behavior:
– scientific: if with PIP
– pseudoscientific: if without PIP
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Coöperation between programs
• asymmetric
– guide and supply RP’s
• typical for successful interdisciplinary research
– discipline boundary breaking
• symmetric
– alternating distribution of roles
– discipline boundary bridging
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Specific strategies
• Interaction of holistic and reductionistic RP’s
• Strategies for program development
– (semi-)dogmatic strategy
– guided by idealization and concretization
– guided by interesting theorems
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Idealization & Concretization: paradigm
• Transition ideal gas law  to the Law of Van der Waals
(0) P = RT/V
(1) P = RT/V  a/V2
(or, alternatively, P = RT/(V b))
(2) P = RT/(V b)  a/V2 (or the standard form:
(P+a/V2)(V b)=RT))
• P, V, T: pressure, volume, temperature
• R: ideal gas constant
• a and b: gas constants, resp. related to mutual attraction
between the molecules and the volume of the molecules.
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Observational laws and proper theories
SSC: S2 (9-12)
• examples and characteristics
• theory-relative explication of ‘observational
/theoretical’ (O/T-) distinctions
• theory ladenness of observation
• explication in terms of ‘empirical basis’
• structure of proper theories
• epistemological positions
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Structure & development of RP’s
• Authors: Kuhn, Lakatos, etc.
• Ex. Newton, Dalton, Mendel
• Structure: components
– domain
– problem/goal
– idea: vocabulary + principles:
• hard core/ dogma’s
– positive heuristics
– model as positive heuristics
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Research strategies
• Program bound research
• Program pluralism in education and in research
• Program interaction
– competition
– coöperation
• asymmetric or symmetric
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