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Philosophy of the Natural SciencesKuipers + Atkinson, Nieuwpoort, van Delden

www.rug.nl/filosofie/finat

• Obligatory Litterature• General• Theo Kuipers, Structures in Scientific Cognition (SSC)• Specific• Reader relativiteitstheorie, molecuultheorie en evolutietheorie• One at choice:• Lawrence Sklar, Philosophy of Physics, Oxford UP, 20022 • Jaap van Brakel, Philosophy of Chemistry, Leuven UP, 2000• Elliott Sober, Philosophy of Biology, Westview Press, 20002

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Recommended Litterature- General:--Theo Kuipers, Structures in Science. Heuristic Patterns based

on Cognitive Structures, Synthese Library, Vol. 301, Kluwer AP, Dordrecht, 2001

-- Merrilee Salmon et al., Introduction to the Philosophy of Science, Hacket Publishing Cy, Indianapolis/Cambridge, (1992) 1999 (reprint)

-- Specific:

see: www.rug.nl/filosofie/finat

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Schedule

• Nov. 11 K structures 1 SSC: S. 1/2/10/12• Nov. 18 Atkinson: relativity Reader, part 1• Nov. 25 K structures 2 SSC: S. 1/2/10/12• Dec. 2 K explanations 1 SSC: S. 3/4/5/6• Dec. 9 Nieuwpoort molecules Reader, part 2• Dec. 16 K explanations 2 SSC: S. 3/4/5/6• Jan. 6 K methods 1 SSC: S. 7/8/9/11/13• Jan. 13 van Delden evolution Reader, part 3• Jan. 20 K methods 2 SSC: S. 7/8/9/11/13• Jan. 27 examination

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Examination

• January 27, 2004: 16.00-18.00/19.00?

• Resit: tba

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Possible parallels/continuations 2003/4(Q1/2/3: first/second/third quarter; EC: Europian Creditpoint;

BC/MC: Bachelor / Master Course)

• Romeyn: Analytische Wetenschapsfilosofie (Q4, 2.5EC, BC2) • Kuipers: Generalisten lezen met een wetenschapsfilosofische

bril (Q2, 5EC, BC3)• Keijzer&Tamminga: Philosophy of neuroscience (Q2; 5 EC; MC)• Kuipers & Romeyn: How to approach the truth (Q3; 5 EC; MC)• Other options: J. Hilgevoord: Over de ruimte (StGen.10/11-1/12)

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Possible continuations 2004/5

• The same +• Tamminga & Dooremalen: Cognitive Structures with

emphasis on mind/body research (Q1, 5EC, BC2/3)• Kuipers et al.: Filosofie van de sociale wetenschappen (Q?,

5EC, BC3)• Kooi: Computational Philosophy (of Science) (Q?, 5EC, MC)• D’Agostino: Reason ……...(Q2, 5EC, BC/MC)

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L1: Introduction + Structures in researchprograms, theories and laws (1)

• Introduction Philosophy of Science (PoS): some general questions (SSC: Introduction, 3-5)

– what are scientific theories?– what is a scientific explanation?– are scientific claims justifiable or falsifiable?

• how do scientific theories change?• how are old and new theories related?• how are theories of different fields related?

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PoS as part of “science of science” =cognitive + social studies of science

• philosophy of science => cognitive structures– structure of products: laws, theories, r. programs – structure of reasoning processes: explanations– structure of validity relations: methods

• => computational philosophy of science

• history of science• sociology of science• psychology of science

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PoS as part of Philosophy• other relevant subdisciplines

– logic– metaphysics (e.g. ontology)– epistemology– value theory (e.g. ethics, aesthetics)– social philosophy (e.g. social epistemology)

• many views and disputes• analytic tradition

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Use-values PoS-cognitive structures

• ‘null hypothesis’ of ideal courses of events• solving classical philosophical problems• didactic instruments for textbooks• heuristic role in research&science policy• heuristic role in actual research

– cognitive structures asheuristic patterns = schematic anticipations

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20th century history PoS• Logical Positivism / Empiricism: Wiener Kreis

(Carnap c.s) + Berliner Gruppe (Reichenbach c.s)• Hempel, Nagel

– Logical: Frege, Russell – Positivism: Comte; Empiricism: Hume– CoD vs CoJ :Context of Discovery vs Justification

– logical reconstruction of CoJ• Critical Rationalism: Popper• Descriptive/Historical turn: Kuhn/Lakatos etc.

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Post-merely-normative PoS

• From (merely) normative to (also) descriptive/historical• Kuhn: paradigms (normal vs revolutionary science)• Feyerabend: ‘anything goes’ (cf. one method)• Lakatos: research programs• Laudan: research traditions• Context of Discovery (CoD-)studies• Alternatives or concretizations?

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Research programs and strategies SSC, S1 (5-9), App. 1A-1C (47-51)

• Research programs (RP’s)– 4 ideal types: descriptive/explanatory/design/explicative– atomic theory: structure and development

• Research strategies– idealization and concretization– interaction: competition/coöperation– interdisciplinary research

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Examples

• Descriptive RP’s– thermostatics– periodic table– human genome project

• Explanatory RP’s– statistical mechanics– atomic theory– genetic theory

• Design RP’s– nuclear fusion– new materials– genetic modification

• Explicative RP’s– causal explanation– reductive explanation– functional explanation

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Similarities and differences

• PM: Ideal types– descriptive / explanatory / design / explicative

• Similarities and differences– all have an internal goal– directly vs indirectly characterized– some or no degrees of freedom

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Development

• Phases, with corresponding success criteria– internal phase

• heuristic and evaluative subphase– external phase, directed at

• science external goal or some other program• Core theory + specific theories• Revisions of (specific) theories• Research traditions (Laudan)

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Summary

research tradition

research- RP1 RP2 RP3 RP* DesignRP

programs

core theory CT2

specific T2.1.1 T2.2.1 T2.3.1 T2.4.1 T2.5.1

theories

revisions T2.1.2 T2.3.2 T.2.4.2

phases internal external

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Dogmatic behaviorKuhn/Lakatos: SSC, App. 8A (79-81)

• Improvement principle (IP)• Programmatic improvement principle (PIP)

– aim at a better theory with the same hard core– if necessary, adapt the hard core– if no other option, look for another program

• (P)IP functional for empirical progress and truth approxination• Types of dogmatic behavior:

– scientific: if with PIP– pseudoscientific: if without PIP

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Coöperation between programs

• asymmetric– guide and supply RP’s

• typical for successful interdisciplinary research– discipline boundary breaking

• symmetric– alternating distribution of roles– discipline boundary bridging

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Specific strategies

• Interaction of holistic and reductionistic RP’s

• Strategies for program development– (semi-)dogmatic strategy– guided by idealization and concretization– guided by interesting theorems

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Idealization & Concretization: paradigm

• Transition ideal gas law to the Law of Van der Waals(0) P = RT/V

(1) P = RT/V a/V2 (or, alternatively, P = RT/(V b))(2) P = RT/(V b) a/V2 (or the standard form:

(P+a/V2)(V b)=RT))• P, V, T: pressure, volume, temperature • R: ideal gas constant• a and b: gas constants, resp. related to mutual attraction between

the molecules and the volume of the molecules.

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Observational laws and proper theoriesSSC: S2 (9-12)

• examples and characteristics• theory-relative explication of ‘observational

/theoretical’ (O/T-) distinctions• theory ladenness of observation• explication in terms of ‘empirical basis’• structure of proper theories• epistemological positions

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Structure & development of RP’s• Authors: Kuhn, Lakatos, etc.• Ex. Newton, Dalton, Mendel• Structure: components

– domain– problem/goal– idea: vocabulary + principles:

• hard core/ dogma’s– positive heuristics– model as positive heuristics

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Research strategies

• Program bound research• Program pluralism in education and in research • Program interaction

– competition– coöperation

• asymmetric or symmetric