Epistemology Study Guide

“When the light from the fixed star reaches me, I see the star as if it is night and I am looking in the right direction. The light started years ago probably many years ago but my reaction is primarily something that is happening now. When my eyes are open I see the star; when they are shut, I do not. (Russell 116)”

Basically, the light from the star probably started years ago but Russell. The star may no longer be there either, if the star died, its light would still be seen, but it wouldn’t be a star anymore.

Eddington

Eddington argues that there are two ways of perceiving. There is the naive realism and the scientific understanding. The former is substantial, the latter is not. It takes into account atoms, protons, neutrons, electrons…etc.

W.T. Stace

1. Argues that realists, like Russell believe in a separate material world apart from sensations
2. All causality tells us is that there are regularities or experiences in the world
3. For Stace, concepts like atoms gravity, forces and the conservation of energy do not exist only sensations and the minds that perceive them exist
4. Everything else is a mental construction

The Problem of Induction

1. From experiences we assume the past will be like the future, but we are not justified in believing this
2. Deductive arguments are useless because they only contain information about the past and present, not the future

Scientific Method

Carl Hempel, a leading advocate of the deductive-nomological model, which holds scientific explanation as deductively valid arguments proceeding from general laws and initial conditions to the phenomena to be explained.

Confirmation

• H O If it rained, the street is wet
• O The street is wet
• Then H It rained. (it may be that someone hosed the street down)

In the scientific method, we are affirming the consequent, and this is a logical fallacy. In the case above, we see that raining is not a necessary condition for the streets to be wet.

Falsification

Popper: Rationality consists in trying to falsify universal theories, that is, attempting to refute bold theories. Popper accuses Marxism and Freudianism of being pseudo sciences because they fail to search for or take into account disconfirming evidence.

H O If light has mass it, then it will bend

• O Light did not bend
• H Therefore, light has no mass

We can use the example of Einstein’s theory of relativity, which made the point that if light was bent by gravity as light traveled from a star to the earth then the theory would hold. If it did not, and it continues unaffected by the gravitational pull, the theory would fail.

Problem:

It is impossible to test a scientific hypothesis in isolation, because an empirical test of the hypothesis requires one or more background assumptions (also called auxiliary assumptions or auxiliary hypotheses)

1. If H and A, and A(2), and A(3), then O
   1. Not O
   2. Not H or Not A(1), Not A(2), Not A(3)

Basically, because a hypothesis relies on auxiliary assumptions, then the hypothesis is never conclusive.

Progressivist View: Lakatos

According to Lakatos, in the place of the criterion of falsification, he developed a notion of scientific progress. That is, a research program is scientific if it leads to fruitful and interesting further projects. It need not be a true theory, only a challenging and progressive one. If it fails to generate new experiments, and projects then it is degenerate.

Pessimist: Feyerabhen

Argues that science contains no special, let alone superior method to other disciplines and that its high position in our society is fraud. There should be a separation of state and science just as there is a separation of state and religion.