WHAT IS THE NATURE OF SCIENCE? Reliable Repeatable Proven True Exact Predictive Logical Progressive Creative Beautiful Cultural

Scientific card game Figure out the rule The process involved in working out the rule should be: Pattern spotting ( link to empirical observation) Guessing the rule (link to inductive hypothesis formation) Testing the rule (link to falsification)

Draw up a scientific model 4 Theory is confirmed and tentatively accepted 3 Prediction and experimental test 2 Inductive hypothesis 1 Experimental data or observation 5 Theory is falsified and discarded Observation + Reason + Experiment=Scientific Method

When do we say that a theory has been falsified? What is the role of experiments in falsifying a theory? What is the role of paradigms (fundamental beliefs) in the falsification according to Thomas Khun? What is the role of interpreting the results when testing a theory? THE SOCIAL NATURE OF SCIENCE (T. Khun)

Thomas Kuhn’s scientific revolutions Science progresses by leaps, when crisis point is reached in the current paradigm paradigms are “universally recognized scientific achievements that for a time provide model problems and solutions to a community of practitioners.” Paradigm shifts

Karl Popper turns science upside down “A theory which is not refutable by any conceivable event is non-scientific” “Every genuine test of a theory is an attempt to falsify it” Popper Falsificationism

Science-a universal tool? Reductionism Complexity theory Chaos Theory Emergent Properties Inductivism (logical problems/practical problems-hidden variable) Falsification (problems with it) Paradigms (problems with them)

What is the status of Scientific Truth? Why teach science? (Newton’s laws of motion, positive charges in the nucleus of an atom stick together, nucleus circled by negative electrons which maintain their distance….) Scientific truths regarded as relationships holding in some limited domain

What is the mark for “right” theory? Science tries to find theories that work in all the cases that can be found. It has expanded its territory so now can explain things that used to be mysteries (why we look like our parents, why the Sun shines..)

Where is science going to go next? What do you think science will never explain? Why? READ THE CHAPTER “ THE SOUL OF THE MARK THREE BEAST” FROM THE SOUL OF ANNA KLANE BY TERREL MIEDANER. WRITE DOWN YOUR VIEWS, FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS.

Science –explanation or description? The limits of science What is the scientific explanation for things falling? Gravity (how does it work?) What is the scientific explanation for having seasons? WRITE IN PAIRS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN EXPLANATION AND DESCRPTION.

Science tell us how rather than why MERCK INDEX ENTRY 9418. Theobromine. 3,7-Dihydro-3,7-dimethyle-1H-prine-2,6-dione; 3,7-dimethylxanthine C7H8N4O2; mol wt 180.17 C 46.67%, H 4.48%, N 31.10%, O 17.76%.

Perfect chocolate theory The primary psychoactive components being theobromine (about 1% of total weight) and caffeine (<.1%). Other chemicals include serotonin, histamine, salsolinol, methyltetrahydroisoquinoline, phenethylamine, telemethylhistamine, spermidine, p-tyramine,3-methyloxytyramine, tryptamine, and spermine. (from Biochemist, Apr/May 1993, p 15, as read from Chocolate, Melting the Myth) NAME : Theobromine CHEMICAL NAME : 3,7-Dihydro-3,7-dimethyle-1H-prine-2,6-dione ALTERNATE CHEMICAL NAMES : 3,7-dimethylxanthine CHEMICAL FORMULA C7H8N4O2 MOLECULAR WEIGHT 180.17 From the Merck Index 12th Edition Monoclinic needles (lamellar twinning on .001) from water, mp 357degrees. Sublimes 290-295deg. Kb at 18deg: 1.3x10-14; Ka 0.9x10-10. Absorption spectrum: Hartley, J Chem Soc 87, 1803, 1810 (1905). One gram dissolved in about 2000 ml of water, 150 ml boiling water, 2220 ml 95% alcohol; sol in the fixed alkali hydroxides, concd acids, in about 22 parts of 20% aq tribasic sodium phosphate soln; moderately sol in ammonia. Almost insol in benzene, ether, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride. Forms salts which are dec by water, and compounds with bases which are more stable.

Different sorts of knowledge In some domains science is invincible In some it is not enough Bertrand Russell: KNOWLEDGE BY ACQUAINTANCE sense-data KNOWLEDGE BY DESCRIPTION the physical object which causes such-and- such sense-data'

SCIENCE vs. PSEUDO SCIENCE SCIENTIFIC METHOD PROVIDES REQUIREMENTS FOR A THEORY TO BE “GOOD ENOUGH” A THEORY EXPLAINS ALL KNOWN DATA AGAIN AND AGAIN UNDER A VARIETY OF CONDITIONS MAKES NEW PREDICTIONS WHICH CAN BE TESTED AND POTENTIALLY FALSIFIED

Please read the articles from your book: Is Economics a Science? (Resource file, Chapter 6) Is History a Science? (Resource file, Chapter 7) On Science and Uncertainty (Resource file, Chapter 2) In 200-300 words write your own opinion on each article. Follow the following structure: A Describe the main point in one sentence B List the main reasons for this conclusion, taking no more than one sentence per reason C Do any of the reasons in B contain any hidden assumptions D Evaluate the persuasiveness of the article, pointing out any shortcomings in any argument