Sociology 690 Quantitative Methods

Epistemology and the Philosophy of Science

Epistemology

From the Greek words episteme (knowledge) and logos (the study or theory of). Hence the “study and theory of knowledge”, its nature, origin and scope. In short, “How do we know that we know?”

Epistemology

Philosophies and Historical Perspectives divide into two major camps:

– 1. That which is known through anticipation, intuition and logic, a.k.a. “a priori” or “before the fact” knowledge.

– 2. That which is known through evidence and experience, a.k.a. “a posteriori” or “after the fact” knowledge

A Priori Knowledge Perspective

Descarte’s Rationalism (1600’s) Reason and deduction as source of knowledge

Russell and Ontology (1910’s) – Knowledge as logic

Vienna Circle’s Logical Positivism (1920’s) Knowledge as Verifiability

A Posteriori Knowledge Perspective

Berkeley’s Idealism - 1710’s (objects and knowledge are sensory based)

Hume’s Empiricism 1740’s (copy principal and causality)

Comte’s Positivism 1850’s (Theological to Metaphysical to Positive)

Common Ground

Both differentiate belief from knowledge, the latter being demonstrable (either logic or fact).

Both deal with the accumulation and refinement of knowledge.

Both allude to an ultimate form of reality as procedure rather than content.

Who is labeled a Rationalist?

Berke

ley

Desca

rte

Hume

Comte

0% 0%0%0%

1. Berkeley

2. Descarte

3. Hume

4. Comte

Side Bar – Poper on Science

Poper disputes Positivists reliance on induction as the vehicle for justification, yet argues the abstract reasoning of Logical Positivism as tautological.

Instead, he emphasizes the importance of falsifibility over verifiability. e.g. Einstein as Science and Freud as Pseudo Science

Related Issues

Induction (Specific to General) versus Deduction (General to Specific)

Deterministic (closed) versus Probabilistic (open) Systems

Verification (incidence in which theory is correct) versus Falsification (incidence in which theory is incorrect.

Dedution is to Rationalism as Induction is to Empiricism?

0%0%

1. True

2. False

Epistemology and Procedure

When the study of knowledge is relegated to procedure by which it is acquired, we speak of the philosophy of science.

Science, then, is ultimately is bound by a conceptual ontology and the common definitions within that ontology implies operationalization.

Side Bar - Kuhn

Knowledge is largely contextual and consensual. Knowledge perspectives are accepted within specific geopolitical and cultural time frame.

As contexts expand, existing perspectives no longer provide adequate explanation redefinition of context paradigm shift

Resolution

Science as a procedure facilitates both induction and deduction, verification and falsification, in open and closed systems.

Science is a normative pursuit, subject to redefinition of content, but resting on the procedure of operationism and replication and therefore, implying reliability, validity, cause & effect and the importance of pursuing same.

Key Concepts

Epistemology - The study of knowledge

Ontology – The study of conceptual schemata

Rationalism – Knowledge as reason and logic

Empiricism - Knowledge as sensory experience

Positivism – Knowledge as Scientific Method

The Scientific Method is most likely associated with which perspective?

Ratio

nalis

m

Logica

l Posi

tivis

m

Empiri

cism

Positi

vism

0% 0%0%0%

1. Rationalism

2. Logical Positivism

3. Empiricism

4. Positivism