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Philosophy of science (view source)
Revision as of 16:59, October 19, 2008
, 16:59, October 19, 2008assumptions of science
== Issues in philosophy of science ==
== Issues in philosophy of science ==
===Assumptions of science===
Philosophy of science depends on several philosophical beliefs:
* Objectivity of reality: The idea that reality is objective, independent of the observer, and can be observed objectively;
* Induction: The idea that an observation can be believed to be valid in all cases if it is true in all observed cases;
* Coherentism: The idea that an idea can be believed to be valid if it is consistent with all other ideas held;
* Parsimony: The idea that the best idea is the idea which requires the fewest assumptions to explain the observations at issue;
* Theory-dependence: The idea that all observations depend on theoretical assumptions to frame and understand the observation;
=== What is science? ===
=== What is science? ===
The [[demarcation problem]] is the question, "What is science, and what is non-science?"
The [[demarcation problem]] is the question, "What is science, and what is non-science?"