A Philosopher Looks At Science
Chapter 1
Language
Language (means of which to convey our thoughts and knowledge) is what makes us different from the rest of the animals, but at the same time language is what causes misunderstanding (too simple = we give the words our own meaning).
Dangers:
The language of science is mathematics:
This book gives a precise example of what a formal system in GEB in page 8, when talking about the meaning of >, is that it doesn’t mean anything and that is why it is given many meanings.
By science he means a field like physics, chemistry, biology, and etcetera.
Language (means of which to convey our thoughts and knowledge) is what makes us different from the rest of the animals, but at the same time language is what causes misunderstanding (too simple = we give the words our own meaning).
Dangers:
- Vague words
- Different meanings depending on the context (ambiguous)
- Words cause emotions.
The language of science is mathematics:
- It is precise and rich enough.
- Mathematics is universal.
This book gives a precise example of what a formal system in GEB in page 8, when talking about the meaning of >, is that it doesn’t mean anything and that is why it is given many meanings.
By science he means a field like physics, chemistry, biology, and etcetera.
Chapter 2
Mathematics
Kinds of propositions:
Kinds of propositions:
- A priori: whose truth/falsity can be shown by pure reason.
- A posteriori: truth/falsity can only be shown after the facts.
- Analytic: propositions after you analyze the meaning of a word.
- Synthetic: propositions that have factual content.
Mathematics: analytic a priori.
Logic is also a type of formal system.
All ______ are _____. You just have to fill in the blanks.
Constant: a word with a fixed meaning
Logical constant
Subject matter constant-
“Mathematics is no more than an analysis of the meaning of words, and a study of forms of arguments.”
Mathematics is vital to science because it is an ideal language that we can use to formulate scientific theories and tells us what those theories imply.
Logic is also a type of formal system.
All ______ are _____. You just have to fill in the blanks.
Constant: a word with a fixed meaning
Logical constant
Subject matter constant-
“Mathematics is no more than an analysis of the meaning of words, and a study of forms of arguments.”
Mathematics is vital to science because it is an ideal language that we can use to formulate scientific theories and tells us what those theories imply.
Chapter 3
Assumptions
“A scientist searches for laws of nature.”
This is what most scientists do, so they all have the basic assumption that there are laws of nature.
Law of nature:
a general statement about the universe which is true. It is a description of what actually takes place.
Integers: first order of infinity.
Law of nature: second order of infinity.
In order to try to understand the law of nature we must have three starting assumptions:
Kinds of laws:
Causal law: determines the future given the present.
Teleological law: determines the present given the future.
“A scientist searches for laws of nature.”
This is what most scientists do, so they all have the basic assumption that there are laws of nature.
Law of nature:
a general statement about the universe which is true. It is a description of what actually takes place.
Integers: first order of infinity.
Law of nature: second order of infinity.
In order to try to understand the law of nature we must have three starting assumptions:
- We may assume that it is possible to learn exactly.
- We may assume that we can learn a good approximation to a law.
- We may assume that we can approximate a law as closely as we wish.
Kinds of laws:
- Causal laws
- Time independent laws
- Conservation laws
- Minimum principles
- Continuous laws
- Laws involving a number of dimensions.
Causal law: determines the future given the present.
Teleological law: determines the present given the future.
Chapter 4
Probability
First type of statement: beyond dispute
Second type of statement: how certain we are that something will happen.
In science, probability plays three roles:
1. statistical theories
2. measurements are subject to error
3. when asserting a statement, we have to assign some degrees of credibility (statement about science)
“Hence we are forced to conclude that no matter what type of theory we have available, there is an absolute limit to the precision with which we can make predictions.”
First type of statement: beyond dispute
Second type of statement: how certain we are that something will happen.
In science, probability plays three roles:
1. statistical theories
2. measurements are subject to error
3. when asserting a statement, we have to assign some degrees of credibility (statement about science)
“Hence we are forced to conclude that no matter what type of theory we have available, there is an absolute limit to the precision with which we can make predictions.”
Chapter 5
The Method
The most characteristic feature of the method is its cyclic nature.
The most characteristic feature of the method is its cyclic nature.
Stages (after facts):
1. Induction: formation of theories on the basis of factual knowledge. It is the process by which the scientist forma a theory to explain the observed facts.
2. Deduction: logical analysis of what the general law says about a particular event tomorrow.
3. Verification: return to the facts to see if the prediction was right.
“You might feel that when you see a table, you have a hard fact, but you have actually made use of certain theories you have so thoroughly accepted and assimilates that you use them subconsciously.”
“A fact reports a single event, while theory reports an unlimited, perhaps infinite, number of events.”
1. Induction: formation of theories on the basis of factual knowledge. It is the process by which the scientist forma a theory to explain the observed facts.
2. Deduction: logical analysis of what the general law says about a particular event tomorrow.
3. Verification: return to the facts to see if the prediction was right.
“You might feel that when you see a table, you have a hard fact, but you have actually made use of certain theories you have so thoroughly accepted and assimilates that you use them subconsciously.”
“A fact reports a single event, while theory reports an unlimited, perhaps infinite, number of events.”
Chapter 6
Credibility and Induction
Explication: making an intuitive concept precise.
Principles:
1. The new definition must be precise.
2. It must agree with the intuitive concept.
How to decide which concept to use
Select the simplest precise concept satisfying all these conditions.
But now everyone has different concepts of the same thing?
“Surely it would seem that no one concepts, exact or vague could unite these divergent views. Yet we arrived at the concept of temperature.”
We measure temperature in the simplest and most useful concept yet (we could measure it with death by heat, but that would imply many other things)
“But the great merit of explications is that they serve to clarify such disputes.”
How do we know what choices to make?
“In every decision we must estimate that the utility of the various goals, and estimate the credibility that a certain course of action will achieve them, before we can make a rational choice.”
Induction:
The process of forming theories on evidence of our observation.
Leads us from the known facts to the unknown ones, which we call theories.
Rule: If various instances have only one of the possible causes in common, then it is the cause. (cold)
“The effect of continued experimentation is to make a given theory more or less probable.”
By this we test the credibility of something. Always keeping in mind that a theory is never certain.
Explication: making an intuitive concept precise.
Principles:
1. The new definition must be precise.
2. It must agree with the intuitive concept.
How to decide which concept to use
Select the simplest precise concept satisfying all these conditions.
But now everyone has different concepts of the same thing?
“Surely it would seem that no one concepts, exact or vague could unite these divergent views. Yet we arrived at the concept of temperature.”
We measure temperature in the simplest and most useful concept yet (we could measure it with death by heat, but that would imply many other things)
“But the great merit of explications is that they serve to clarify such disputes.”
How do we know what choices to make?
“In every decision we must estimate that the utility of the various goals, and estimate the credibility that a certain course of action will achieve them, before we can make a rational choice.”
Induction:
The process of forming theories on evidence of our observation.
Leads us from the known facts to the unknown ones, which we call theories.
Rule: If various instances have only one of the possible causes in common, then it is the cause. (cold)
“The effect of continued experimentation is to make a given theory more or less probable.”
By this we test the credibility of something. Always keeping in mind that a theory is never certain.
Chapter 7
Concepts of Science
“It is the task of science to record facts and to form theories to explain and predict observations.”
Observational terms:
Describe thing directly observable.
Direct observations: cannot be possibly wrong. (brown, large, small)
Theoretical terms:
Indirectly connected with experience (rules of interpretation).
Theories that are not testable. (acceleration)
Operationalists:
Every scientific concept must be connected to experience by means of precisely given operations, which tell us how to apply the concept.
“Although operational definitions may exist near the base of the hierarchy, soon we reach levels where all we require are rules of interpretation connecting this theory with theories on the lower level.”
“It is the task of science to record facts and to form theories to explain and predict observations.”
Observational terms:
Describe thing directly observable.
Direct observations: cannot be possibly wrong. (brown, large, small)
Theoretical terms:
Indirectly connected with experience (rules of interpretation).
Theories that are not testable. (acceleration)
Operationalists:
Every scientific concept must be connected to experience by means of precisely given operations, which tell us how to apply the concept.
“Although operational definitions may exist near the base of the hierarchy, soon we reach levels where all we require are rules of interpretation connecting this theory with theories on the lower level.”
Chapter 8
Measurement
We classify things in order to measure (heavy, cold).
Classification: (for the temperature on different days)
Asymmetry:
B does not hold the same relation to A
Transitivity:
A is preferred to B, and B is preferred to C, we conclude that A is preferred to C.
Partial order:
A relationship that is asymmetric and transitive.
Simple order:
Asymmetry
Transitivity
No two classes can be compared
Measuring instruments: assign numerical value
We classify things in order to measure (heavy, cold).
Classification: (for the temperature on different days)
- Exhaustive: classification musty be such that it is possible to classify every day into one of the classes.
- Exclusive: no day could be classified under two headings.
Asymmetry:
B does not hold the same relation to A
Transitivity:
A is preferred to B, and B is preferred to C, we conclude that A is preferred to C.
Partial order:
A relationship that is asymmetric and transitive.
Simple order:
Asymmetry
Transitivity
No two classes can be compared
Measuring instruments: assign numerical value
Chapter 9
Scientific Explanations
Good explanations:
1. We must have general theories
2. Theories must be well-established
3. We must be in possession of facts which are known independently of the facts to be explained
4. The fact to be explained must be a logical consequence of the general theories and of the known facts.
“What may be an excellent scientific explanation in one century, may be unacceptable in the next.” (Copernicus)
Incomplete explanations:
Some theory or fact is omitted.
“On the basis of past experience we formulate a general theory as applying not only the past and the present, but also the future; and on this basis we made, or could have made, a prediction to the effect that the event in question would take place.”
Good explanations:
1. We must have general theories
2. Theories must be well-established
3. We must be in possession of facts which are known independently of the facts to be explained
4. The fact to be explained must be a logical consequence of the general theories and of the known facts.
“What may be an excellent scientific explanation in one century, may be unacceptable in the next.” (Copernicus)
Incomplete explanations:
Some theory or fact is omitted.
“On the basis of past experience we formulate a general theory as applying not only the past and the present, but also the future; and on this basis we made, or could have made, a prediction to the effect that the event in question would take place.”
Chapter 10
What is Science?
“Our alternatives are to define science by its subject matter, or by its method. But the purpose of science is to study the whole field of factual knowledge, it has no special topic of its own.”
So we will define it by method.
Science: all knowledge collected by means of the scientific method.
“We may summarize the forgoing discussion by stating that science is divided into branches arbitrarily. If phenomena are connected by known laws, or if some scientist attracts sufficient interest in the study of these phenomena, or for a number of accidental reasons, a group of phenomena is collected into a branch of science.”
There is no specific way to classify science.
“Its divisions are for convenience in describing results and do not represent a fundamental feature of science.”
“Our alternatives are to define science by its subject matter, or by its method. But the purpose of science is to study the whole field of factual knowledge, it has no special topic of its own.”
So we will define it by method.
Science: all knowledge collected by means of the scientific method.
“We may summarize the forgoing discussion by stating that science is divided into branches arbitrarily. If phenomena are connected by known laws, or if some scientist attracts sufficient interest in the study of these phenomena, or for a number of accidental reasons, a group of phenomena is collected into a branch of science.”
There is no specific way to classify science.
“Its divisions are for convenience in describing results and do not represent a fundamental feature of science.”
Chapter 11
Determinism
“Far be it from me to deny the importance of the question as to what degree we humans can know the future. But whether or not we humans can in principle predict the future is a question about our limitations, not about the nature of the universe.”
Problem of predictability:
Factors:
1. The laws are available.
2. The facts are available.
3. The reasoning powers available.
4. The time available.
Uncertainty principle: there is an absolute limit to the accuracy we can achieve.
Gödel: “No matter what mathematical methods we have at our disposal, some of the questions we ask ourselves cannot be answered by these methods.”
“Far be it from me to deny the importance of the question as to what degree we humans can know the future. But whether or not we humans can in principle predict the future is a question about our limitations, not about the nature of the universe.”
Problem of predictability:
Factors:
1. The laws are available.
2. The facts are available.
3. The reasoning powers available.
4. The time available.
Uncertainty principle: there is an absolute limit to the accuracy we can achieve.
Gödel: “No matter what mathematical methods we have at our disposal, some of the questions we ask ourselves cannot be answered by these methods.”
Chapter 12
Life
What can science say about life?
Vitalists: ascribe the activities of living organisms to the operation of a ‘vital force’.
Mechanists: living phenomena can be explained exclusively in physico-chemical terms.
“It is agreed that there is a natural surplus of life, creating the celebrated struggle and hence a natural selective process preserved the individuals showing minute advantages over their brothers. These differences are brought about by changes in the chromosomes, or mutations.”
What can science say about life?
Vitalists: ascribe the activities of living organisms to the operation of a ‘vital force’.
Mechanists: living phenomena can be explained exclusively in physico-chemical terms.
“It is agreed that there is a natural surplus of life, creating the celebrated struggle and hence a natural selective process preserved the individuals showing minute advantages over their brothers. These differences are brought about by changes in the chromosomes, or mutations.”
Chapter 13
The Mind
What distinguishes the “mere” living things from those higher creatures that think?
Philosophical answers are divided into two categories:
1) Monastic answer: these is no fundamental difference between mind and matter. Either mind is a special form of matter or matter is a by-product of the mind, or there is a fundamental substance of which they are two different aspects.
2) Dualistic answer: there is a basis distinction. Either connected by causal relations or entirely distinct but synchronized.
“If machines can carry out all of these tasks that we associate with human thinking, are we ourselves more than mere machines?” GEB, is a our brain a program?
“The easy escape from being called ‘mere machines’ is to say that we are conscious and machines are not.”
But this can be refuted. The main argument is that we are able to carry out a certain types of actions that machines are incapable of.
Things which we cant even explain (instincts, tacit knowledge).
“Are we really free to make decisions or is this an illusion?” (Fire, GEB, my essay #6)
Problems with free will
Our will cannot be free, if the universe is determined (law of nature)
“Complete predictability of events seems out of the question in the inanimate world. Prediction of the human actions is perhaps the most complex problem facing the scientist. In this field we can expect only the very slowest progress and we must expect that any types of decisions will forever remain outside the scientist’s ability to predict.”
What distinguishes the “mere” living things from those higher creatures that think?
Philosophical answers are divided into two categories:
1) Monastic answer: these is no fundamental difference between mind and matter. Either mind is a special form of matter or matter is a by-product of the mind, or there is a fundamental substance of which they are two different aspects.
2) Dualistic answer: there is a basis distinction. Either connected by causal relations or entirely distinct but synchronized.
“If machines can carry out all of these tasks that we associate with human thinking, are we ourselves more than mere machines?” GEB, is a our brain a program?
“The easy escape from being called ‘mere machines’ is to say that we are conscious and machines are not.”
But this can be refuted. The main argument is that we are able to carry out a certain types of actions that machines are incapable of.
Things which we cant even explain (instincts, tacit knowledge).
“Are we really free to make decisions or is this an illusion?” (Fire, GEB, my essay #6)
Problems with free will
Our will cannot be free, if the universe is determined (law of nature)
“Complete predictability of events seems out of the question in the inanimate world. Prediction of the human actions is perhaps the most complex problem facing the scientist. In this field we can expect only the very slowest progress and we must expect that any types of decisions will forever remain outside the scientist’s ability to predict.”
Chapter 14
Science and Values
Can scientific problems in the social sciences be divorced from questions of value?
Value statement (or ethical assertion):
Any type of command, or assertion that something is good or desirable, or bad and undesirable.
“It is certainly true that pre-occupation with right or wrong is characteristic of the human race, and we are called upon a thousand times each day to exercise the mysterious gift of making such decisions.”
Scientific statements in themselves cannot serve as a source of value judgments.
“Science can tell us two things: first, it can tell us what decisions are open to us; and, secondly, it can tell us what the future will be like, depending on the way we make our decisions.”
You can choose what is desirable or undesirable.
Can scientific problems in the social sciences be divorced from questions of value?
Value statement (or ethical assertion):
Any type of command, or assertion that something is good or desirable, or bad and undesirable.
“It is certainly true that pre-occupation with right or wrong is characteristic of the human race, and we are called upon a thousand times each day to exercise the mysterious gift of making such decisions.”
Scientific statements in themselves cannot serve as a source of value judgments.
“Science can tell us two things: first, it can tell us what decisions are open to us; and, secondly, it can tell us what the future will be like, depending on the way we make our decisions.”
You can choose what is desirable or undesirable.
Chapter 15
The Social Sciences
Can man be studied by the same methods that apply to lower beings or inanimate nature?
Things against the social sciences:
“Above all, the social scientists are right in saying that the phenomena they study are basically more complex than the phenomena of the social scientists.”
The laws in the social sciences are harder to form because of the tradition of vagueness, ambiguity, emotive overtness in the subject matter and the complexity of human beings.
Can man be studied by the same methods that apply to lower beings or inanimate nature?
Things against the social sciences:
- The kinds of experiments of the Social Sciences
- Social sciences deal with people and groups
- Human prediction is impossible (those kinds of things which convince us that it is harder to find laws in the social sciences than in physical sciences)
“Above all, the social scientists are right in saying that the phenomena they study are basically more complex than the phenomena of the social scientists.”
The laws in the social sciences are harder to form because of the tradition of vagueness, ambiguity, emotive overtness in the subject matter and the complexity of human beings.
Chapter 16
Quo Vadis?
“We know that our information is always only approximate, so a prediction is reliable only if minor errors in our original information do not change the prediction much.”
“A philosopher of science cannot help observe that the progress of physical science has gotten way ahead of our social progress, both scientific and ethical.”
Final lesson from book:
No scientific theory is final.
“We know that our information is always only approximate, so a prediction is reliable only if minor errors in our original information do not change the prediction much.”
“A philosopher of science cannot help observe that the progress of physical science has gotten way ahead of our social progress, both scientific and ethical.”
Final lesson from book:
No scientific theory is final.