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Line 8: + + + + + + + + + + + + + + − For a primer on the subject, see Thomas Kuhn's ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions''
Philosophy of science (view source)
Revision as of 16:23, October 17, 2008
, 16:23, October 17, 2008demarcation problem
* Therefore, science <i>as a process</i> is not itself scientific; rather, it is philosophical.
* Therefore, science <i>as a process</i> is not itself scientific; rather, it is philosophical.
== Issues in philosophy of science ==
=== What is science? ===
The [[demarcation problem]] is the question, "What is science, and what is non-science?"
==== Schools of thought ====
There are two broad schools of thought regarding the [[demarcation problem]], or the problem of determing exactly what is science and what is not:
* [[Positivism]], a position popular in the early 20th century and still popular in some circles today, is the idea that only facts which can be empirically observed are scientific, or for that matter, meaningful.
* [[Falsificationism]], the position popularized by [[Karl Popper]], is the idea that science includes only those ideas which can be experimentally tested. If an idea cannot be tested, it is not science, but "metaphysical," according to Popper;
* Post-positivism, the position popularized by [[Thomas Kuhn]], is the idea that the scientific community is influenced by [[paradigm]]s, social, political, and ideological factors, such that science progresses through [[paradigm shift]]s, in which scientists work within a paradigm until mounting problems with the current paradigm reach a breaking point and force a new paradigm;
* Feyerabandism, the position popularized by [[Paul Feyeraband]], is the idea that science is not privileged in terms of logic or method, such that scientists carry no special authority;
* Thagardism, the position popularized by [[Paul Thagard]], is the idea that science includes those ideas taken seriously by the scientific community;
==== Science as objective or subjective ====
The schools of thought identified above can be grouped into two broad categories: those which demarcate science in objective terms (positivism and falsificationism), and those which demarcate science in subjective terms (the remaining schools of thought). The objective schools of thought conceptualize science as something which can be objectively identified based on independent criteria -- essentially, an idea is scientific or unscientific regardless of what anybody thinks of the matter. The subjective schools of thought conceptualize science as ''what scientists think'' or ''what scientists do'' -- thus an idea is "scientific" if it is accepted by the "scientific community," and ceases to be scientific if it is rejected by the same community.
This issue becomes scientific in the [[evolutionism]] vs. [[creationism]] and [[plate techtonics]] vs. [[expanding earth]] controversies. Typically, evolutionists use arguments which assume a subjective definition of science -- creationism is unscientific because it is rejected by most scientists, or because it does not have peer-reviewed journals, or because it is "advanced for religious purposes." Creationists, on the other hand, typically use arguments that assume an objective definition of science -- for example, [[common descent]] is not science, because it cannot be experimentally tested.
[[Category: Science]]
[[Category: Science]]
[[Category: Philosophy]]
[[Category: Philosophy]]