RESEARCH METHODSBIOLOGY 6910/FORESTRY 6913

WINTER 2020

JOHN A. KERSHAW, JR.

SCIENCEPHILOSOPHY

TECHNOLOGY

SCIENCE

PHILOSOPHY

A QUICK HISTORY/OVERVIEW OF SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

• “The philosophy of science is as useful to

scientists as ornithology is to birds.”

• Normative or Descriptive

• A fundamental difference between speaking

or writing about a subject, and living or

doing the subject

https://philosophynow.org/issues/114/Richard_Feynmans_Philosophy_of_Science

BACONIAN SCIENTIFIC REASONING

• 1620: English Philosopher, Sir Francis Bacon,

laid the foundations of the Scientific Method

• “Objectively” collect “first vintage” data

without prior explanation in mind

• Theories created, then iteratively tested and

refined from evidence provided by the

senses

• Aim to arrive at general “truths”

• Avoid cognitive bias: “Idols of the mind”

OBJECTIVITY: IT’S EASY RIGHT? (IN CLASS DISCUSSION)

FRUITLESS ARGUMENTS

• “Science should be about collecting data in

an unbiased way to create hypotheses” VS

“Science should be about testing

hypotheses”

• “Reductionism, studying isolated

phenomenon in detail, is the most

productive form of science” VS “All biology is

systems biology”

“Science is either

physics or stamp

collecting.”

– Ernest Rutherford

AIMS AND GOALS OF SCIENCE

• Scientific Realism: there is a world out

there independently of us, and science

aims at finding out what it is like.

• Science aims at knowledge and/or truth

about the world (classical definition of

knowledge as justified true belief)

• Truth (knowledge) is valuable as such, for

its own sake (intrinsic value)

• Scientific Instrumentalism:

knowledge has on instrumental value,

not intrinsic value (denies that scientific

theories have truth values).

• Science aims at practical

recommendations and problem solving

• Knowledge and truth are not sought for

their own sake

SCIENCES, OBJECTS, AND METHODS

SCIENCE OBJECTS DOMINANT METHOD

SimpleReductionism

(analysis)

Logic and Mathematics Abstract objects: (propositions, numbers, symbols…) Deduction

Natural Sciences Natural objects: (physical bodies, field and interactions, living organisms…) Hypothetico-deductive Method

Social Sciences Social objects: (individual humans, groups, society…)Hypothetico-deductive Method

+ Hermeneutics

Humanities Cultural objects: (ideas, actions and relationships, language, artifacts…) Hermeneutics

ComplexHolism

(synthesis)

LOGIC SYSTEMS

• Deductive

• Inductive

• Abductive (hypothetico-deductive)

DEDUCTIVE LOGIC

• All As are B

• X is an A

• Therefore, X is a B

• A = 5, B = 4

• A + 2B = 13

• General statement

• Specific conclusion

• As long as both premises are true, the

conclusion must be certain

INDUCTIVE LOGIC

• All copper we have tested conducts

electricity

• X is a piece of copper, yet to be tested

• Therefore X will conduct electricity

• Specific statement – general conclusion

• Observation

• Pattern

• Conclusion

• Possibility of error

PROBLEMS WITH INDUCTION

• Generally attributed to David Hume

• Unsafe to generalize about properties of

a class of objects based on particular

instances of that class

• “all swans we have seen are white,

therefore all swans are white”

PROBLEMS WITH INDUCTION

• Presupposes that a sequence of events in

the future will occur exactly as the did in

the past

• Hume’s “Principle of uniformity of nature”

• Proving induction by induction is circular

• Hume concluded that we just have to

accept induction as an instinct

“The man who has fed the

chicken everyday throughout its

life at last wrings its neck

instead, showing that more

refined views as to the

uniformity of nature would have

been useful to the chicken.” –

Bertrand Russell

INDUCTION + EXPLANATION = ABDUCTION

• Science runs on abduction

• AKA inference to best explanation

• Aims to select best hypothesis among many

• Best hypothesis is the one that explains the

most with least

• “Never were there so many facts explained with

so few assumptions.” – Dawkins on Darwin’s

Natural Selection

• Avoid post hoc ergo propter hoc(correlation = causality)

• Consilience

• evidence from independent, unrelated sources

can "converge" on strong conclusions

• Roles of parsimony and elegance in science

• Entia non sunt multiplicandapraetor necessitate – William of Occam

(Occam’s Razor)

• “Beauty is truth, truth beauty” – Keats

• “Seek simplicity and distrust it.” – Whitehead

• Raffiniert ist der Herrgott, aber boshaft ist ernicht – Einstein

DEDUCTION :: INDUCTION :: ABDUCTION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX3OXwpEpl8

MODELS AND SIMULATION

“All models are wrong but some

are useful.“ – George Box

MODELS AND SIMULATIONS

• Rowley’s original orrery

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siIZb

ABZahY

SCIENCE VERSUS TECHNOLOGY

• Science

• What is the character of?

• What if?

• Why?

• Technology

• How?

SCIENCE VERSUS TECHNOLOGY

Berthold der Schwarze and the (European) Invention

of Gunpowder

TECHNOLOGY

• Technology is about how we should do something

• Political systems

• Religions

• Scientific method

• Assembly lines

“TECHNOLOGY EXPANDS OUR WAYS OF THINKING ABOUT THINGS, OUR WAYS OF DOING THINGS”

Herbert A. Simon

THE REAL WORLD OF TECHNOLOGY – URSULA FRANKLIN

THE REAL WORLD OF TECHNOLOGY – URSULA FRANKLIN

PRESCIPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES

• Associated with the notion of process

• Breaks a process down into steps with

different individuals in charge of each

step

• Gives rise to management structures and

surveillance

HOLISTIC TECHNOLOGIES

• Associated with the notion of craft

• An individual controls the process of

their own work from beginning to end

• Individuals in charge

RESEARCH, SCIENCE, DEVELOPMENT, AND TECHNOLOGY

TAKE AWAY MESSAGES

• Philosophy, science, and technology are different studies and different domains

• Science is concerned with natural phenomena

• Philosophy attempts to understand the nature of man, existence, and the relationship that

exists between the two concepts

• Technology is concern with how we do something – i.e., the control of processes

WRITING ASSIGNMENT #2 (TAKE HOME)

• Watch: The Scientific Method is Crap

• How does Teman Cooke’s view of the scientific method agree or diverge from your view of

the scientific method?