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32 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Why does Kuhn's description of change within normal Science not fit with standard empiricist attitudes towards scientific change? |
Some ideas are protected from falsification Em: All ideas are to change re all the time. All theoretical claims are always subject to falsification |
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Why does Kuhn's description of change within revolutionary science not fit with standard empiricist attitudes towards scientific change? |
Change isn't settled by appeal to evidence or argument |
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What is a major difficulty with Kuhn's account of crisis states within scientific communities? |
-Confidence of scientists shaken
-Openness to more radical ideas -role for non-empirical consideration |
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What is relativism? |
Whether if something is true or false |
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What does it mean to suggest that Kuhn was a relativist about scientific knowledge? |
Scientific theories can only be good or bad (relative) to some paradigms |
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What is an anomaly? |
a violation of the "paradigm-induced expectations that govern normal science" |
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Why are rival paradigms Incommensurable, according to Kuhn? |
there is no completely neutral standpoint from which one can judge the relative worth of two paradigms -lacking a common measure |
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Why does Kuhn describe normal science as puzzle-solving? |
You assume there is always a solution |
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What two conditions are required, according to Kuhn, for one paradigm to replace another? |
-Crisis State -New Paradime |
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Trofim Lysenko was an influential biologist in which country? |
Soviet Union |
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Why did Lysenko gain such influence? |
Criticized by other scientist but loved by communist |
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Who is Nikolai Vavilov? |
A scientist sentenced to death by Lynsenko ( [] camp) |
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Why did some sociologists believe that the sociology of science was the appropriate discipline for understanding the nature of science? |
Advocates Strong Program |
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*What does it mean to say an answer or is underdetermined by available evidence |
*There is more than one thoery |
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What’s the difference between global and local underdetermination? |
Global: everything Local: Little bit |
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What’s the significance of Stanford’s objection that global underdetermination is a form of radical scepticism? |
Might be dreaming doesn't influence how your conclusions or beliefs |
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How worried should we be by the threat of local underdetermination? |
"know local" |
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David Crews formed his reputation as a competent biologist through his studies of which species? |
Whiptail Lizard |
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Which feature of the whiptailed lizard was David Crews the first to ascribe real significance to? |
Reproduce Parthenogenetically |
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How did David Crews’ critics account for this same behavioural feature? |
being kept in captivity |
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What objections were raised against Crews’ work? |
not reliable, not observed in field, method |
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Are Collins and Pinch right that empirical evidence was unable to satisfactorily resolve the debate? |
yes *****
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Explain, in general terms, how Collins and Pinch anticipated the debate between Crews and his critics would eventually be resolved? |
through social factors |
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What pieces of empirical evidence have come to light that support Crews’ hypothesis? |
-Reproductively inactive lizards do not pseudocopulate -Lizards kept in groups, and conducting pseudocopulatory behaviour, are far more fecund that lizards kept in isolation |
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What does it mean to say that the history of science is contingent? |
The science from years ago is not still always relevant (Bleeding) |
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What are the four humors of humoral medicine? |
Blood, black bile, yellow bile, Phlegm |
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What is phlogiston? |
fire started (theory of chemistry) |
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In what decade did scientists accept the idea that the continents are in motion? |
1950's |
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Why is the fact that scientists have been wrong before a poor reason to reject specific scientific conclusions from today’s science? |
because no factual evidence, opinion from dislikement |
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What, according to Popper characterizes a pseudoscientific theory? |
it is one that is not testable. it also looks for evidence that supports its claims, where science sets up to challenge it. it seeks confirmations |
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Paradigm |
Contains assumptions about what the world contains and how scientific inquiry should be pursued |
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Radical Skepticism |
is the philosophical position that knowledge is most likely impossible |