But how do we come to know? What are some ways we acquire knowledge?
Philosophy of Science
The word science
is derived from the Latin scio, meaning to know
But how do we come to know?
What are some ways we acquire knowledge?
Scientists study a huge variety of things: medicine, chemistry, physics, biology, . . . and even psychology.Reliance on authority is the oldest approach
intuition) as basis for rational explanations about our world
Which approaches are considered to be most (or least) scientific?
Why? Agree/Disagree?
What you study doesn't determine whether it's scientific,So, how do we know what is considered to be scientific?
e.g., why is psychology a science, but astrology isn't?
(or is psychology not really a "real science"?)
not the topic, but rather the methods used to study the topic
**that is why Psychology majors are required to take a class on research methods
Despite
the seemingly endless array of scientific specialties, there is a set of
common
goals that run throughout all of science
What do each of these four mean? Why is each important?Description
These goals are, essentially, a description of a scientific attitude.
There are important assumptions
that such an attitude makes --
thus we need to recognize and
understand these assumptions:
Assumptions of the Scientific Attitude
1) Nature is ordered -- the world is not simply a series of random, unpredictable events
2) Determinism -- which is the belief that since nature is ordered, certain factors cause other factors
thus, theoretically it is possible to identify the causes of all natural events (including human behavior)3) Empiricism -- which is belief that sensory experiences (i.e., direct observations) are a better foundation for knowledge than relying on intuition and subjective sources of informationtheoretically possible doesn't mean easy, or even practical, oftentimes
this assumption ruffles feathers of staunch free will advocates (which is why Skinner addressed it directly) . . . what do you think?
4) Parsimony -- states that, all else being equal, the simpler of two explanations is best
**leads to emphasis on finding generalizable conclusions5) Falsifiability -- was famously argued to be a cornerstone of science by Karl Popper
**means that it is possible to try to disprove a theory/explanation
**if can't directly test a theory, then it's not a scientific explanation
**if can test it, then the possibility exists that can disprove it
(i.e., if it really is false, there is some way to show that's the case)