Falsifiability

Pooled together, these quotes qualify our perceptions and how the relate to the real world. In a physical sense, there has to be a certain organic separation between our minds and the world around it, which is through the transmission of light and the coalescence of that information in our brains. I say organic because this particular separation is caused a natural and physiological sequence. But the intangible and “artificial” separation happens between the eyes and ears when we attempt to…

(1) Discuss what makes Thales’ method of knowing distinctly philosophical (as opposed to mythology and religion). Thales method of knowing, thinking and comprehending was very much scientific, groundbreaking yet also very naturalistic at the same time. Thales method can be summed up simply by saying it is one of making observations and then justifying these observations through reason. Thales was never afraid to look for answers to questions in a very untraditional as well as at times…

This also led to another famous method: The scientific method that we’ve had to learn and put to the test at some point. The basis for this is Observation, the reason for why something is what is, do research, conduct a hypothesis, and then test your findings with an experiment. His rules stated in principia say “1) we are to admit no more causes of natural things such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances, (2) the same natural effects must be assigned to the same causes,…

Nate Silver’s introduction to The Signal and the Noise offers up an intuitive definition of the split between prediction and forecast. Prediction is judgemental and accounts for future changes and opinions, whereas forecast is pure scientific fact and interpretation of the past events. Neither are anywhere close to perfectly predicting any scenario, but there are times where one produces a mostly accurate estimation of the future. Each strategy has its strengths and weaknesses, which Silver…

1. Introduction Robert Kane believes libertarians, before him, have not done an adequate job of explaining how their view of free will can be reconciled with modern scientific views about human beings and the cosmos. As a result, this causes Kane to address the conflict between free will and its compatibility with modern scientific views. Kane asks the two following questions. First, can a libertarian view of free will requiring ultimate responsibility be made intelligible without appealing to…

While the modern vision of scientific civilization, developed by Sir Francis Bacon in 17th century England, and the ways science is actually practiced in the world today both pursue objective truth, the modern vision and today’s scientific practices differ in their methods of pursuing truth. The modern vision and the ways science is actually practiced today both pursue objective truth in order to benefit humanity. The modern vision of science pursued truth using experience, which differed from…

Bas van Fraassen has centered a large part of his philosophical career on studying scientific realism and describing a form of anti-realism called constructive empiricism. Van Fraassen is certainly steadfast in anti-realist belief, but doesn’t seem to have to alter too much of the realist’s perspective to form his beliefs. According to his definition of scientific realism “Science aims to give us, in its theories, a literally true story of what the world is like.”1 This is not a statement that…

Ayala noted that the way Darwin described his work to the public and what he actually did was contradictory. There seems to be two reasons as to why he could have done this. First, past definitions of hypotheses were meant for philosophical observations without any basis upon empirical evidence. Secondly, Darwin wanted to avoid the bias associated with empirical claims; that hypotheses were created as an aftermath of obtaining empirical evidence. Both Francis Bacon and John Stuart Mill were…

To What extent are Human Sciences similar to and different from Natural Science? Introduction; Science is the intellectual and practical activity comprising of the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the Natural and physical world through experimentation and observation. Scientific method consists of Observation, hypothesis, experiment, law and theory. Because of science, man is able to go to the moon, It has also helped us with manufacturing of cars and electronic devices like…

Like the title “Why Scientists Should Embrace the Liberal Arts” implies, Skorton believes embracing the liberal arts will enable scientists to communicate to the public more effectively. But before we dives into how Skorton delivers his message persuasively, we need to identify his target audiences first. To start off, by publishing this essay on Scientific American under the category of science, Skorton is targeting at scientists and science enthusiasts since Scientific American is a popular…