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Empiricism and Scientific Methodology

Bas C. van Fraassen

in The Scientific Image

Scientific theories do much more than answer empirical questions. This can be understood along empiricist lines only if those other aspects are instrumental for the pursuit of empirical strength and ... More

Scientific theories do much more than answer empirical questions. This can be understood along empiricist lines only if those other aspects are instrumental for the pursuit of empirical strength and adequacy, or serving other aims subordinate to these. This chapter accordingly addresses four main questions: (1) Does the rejection of realism lead to a self‐defeating scepticism? (2) Are scientific methodology and experimental design intelligible on any but a realist interpretation of science? (3) Is the ideal of the unity of science, or even the practice of using distinct theories in conjunction, intelligent on an empiricist view? (4) What sense can an empiricist position accord to those theoretical virtues––such as simplicity, coherence, explanatory power––that are not reducible to empirical strength or adequacy? The answers to these questions rely strongly on the pragmatics of scientific inquiry, and advocate a ‘Clausewitz doctrine’ of experimentation as a continuation of theorizing by other means.Less

Achinstein's Newtonian Empiricism

Victor Di Fate

in Philosophy of Science Matters: The Philosophy of Peter Achinstein

By examining Peter Achinstein's longstanding views on evidence and recent work on induction, this chapter attempts to characterize and critically evaluate Achinstein's meta-methodology. It is argued ... More

By examining Peter Achinstein's longstanding views on evidence and recent work on induction, this chapter attempts to characterize and critically evaluate Achinstein's meta-methodology. It is argued that Achinstein is a distinctive kind of empiricist about scientific method. Unlike some methodological empiricists, Achinstein does not expect the philosopher of science to engage in empirical investigation to evaluate methodological principles. Rather, the empirical information bearing on such principles is generated during the normal work of the scientist. This sort of empiricism is branded “Newtonian” because it is argued that there is good reason to think that Newton held a very similar view. In particular, both Newton and Achinstein think we normally require empirical information to determine whether some fact is evidence for a hypothesis, and thus whether it is reasonable to infer from one to the other. Achinstein's mistake, it is argued, is that he tries to retain some justificatory force for inductive principles, rather than letting such empirical information do all the justificatory work.Less

Science and the Messy, Uncontrollable World of Nature

Carol E. Cleland and Sheralee Brindell

in Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem

This chapter argues that doubts about the scientific status of the field sciences often rest on mistaken preconceptions about the nature of the evaluative relation between empirical evidence and ... More

This chapter argues that doubts about the scientific status of the field sciences often rest on mistaken preconceptions about the nature of the evaluative relation between empirical evidence and hypothesis or theory, namely, that it is some sort of formal logical relation. It argues that there is a potentially more fruitful approach to understanding the nature of the support offered by empirical evidence to scientific hypotheses. The first part of the chapter briefly reviews the traditional philosophical take on the scientific method in order to clarify its most serious problems. It shows that these problems are greatly exacerbated when science moves from the artificially controlled environment of the laboratory to the messy uncontrollable world of nature. The second part ferrets out some highly general, causal components in the methodological reasoning of nonhistorical field scientists. It argues that differences in patterns of evidential reasoning in the experimental sciences versus the field sciences, and in the historical versus nonhistorical field sciences, seem tailored to pervasive causal differences in their epistemic situations.Less

Hume and Locke on Causation and Scientific Methodology: The Newtonian Legacy

Graciela De Pierris

in Ideas, Evidence, and Method: Hume's Skepticism and Naturalism concerning Knowledge and Causation

Chapter 3 considers Hume’s views on causation from his Newtonian naturalistic standpoint. It examines five central differences between Newton’s and Locke’s scientific methodologies. It contrasts ... More

Chapter 3 considers Hume’s views on causation from his Newtonian naturalistic standpoint. It examines five central differences between Newton’s and Locke’s scientific methodologies. It contrasts Hume’s Newtonian inductivism with Locke’s (and Descartes’s) conception of the effect being contained in the cause, together with the attendant demonstrative ideal of causal explanation defended by the mechanical philosophy. It explains Hume’s rejection of Locke’s skeptical realism concerning causation and necessity. It discusses Hume’s adoption of the Newtonian ideal of inductive “proof” as opposed to mere “probability” and compares Hume’s “Rules by which to judge of causes and effects” with Newton’s “Rules for the Study of Natural Philosophy.” Hume’s inductive method is grounded on Newton’s Rules III and IV, and thus on Newton’s rejection of any hypothetical inference conflicting with inductive proof from manifest phenomena. This entitles Hume to reject miracles as events conflicting with well-established laws of nature obtained by inductive proofs.Less

Methodological issues

Tim Markham

in The Politics of War Reporting: Authority, Authenticity and Morality

This chapter discusses the sometimes knotty methodological issues that the Bourdieusian heuristic model throws up. The parameters of Bourdieusian social scientific methodology are also explored. ... More

This chapter discusses the sometimes knotty methodological issues that the Bourdieusian heuristic model throws up. The parameters of Bourdieusian social scientific methodology are also explored. Pierre Bourdieu's interpretation of relationalism and rationalism is not without its critics. Bourdieusian generative structuralism concerns itself with every level of the operation of power. Bourdieu's genetic, microscopic conception of power is significantly insightful in uncovering the operation of coercive power relations in the seemingly quotidian and mundane. Codes and branches of codes could be easily moved around the overall tree, cutting where necessary for clarity, allowing for the development of a framework that is simultaneously systematic and intuitive to use. A similar line of reasoning applied to codings for speech style. Two extracts that show the coding and inference processes are reported.Less

E-Science, Cyberinfrastructure, and Scholarly Communication

Tony Hey and Anne Trefethen

in Scientific Collaboration on the Internet

This chapter finds that computational science has evolved into a more scientific methodology. Computer science professionals are developing software tools and applications to develop a ... More

This chapter finds that computational science has evolved into a more scientific methodology. Computer science professionals are developing software tools and applications to develop a cyberinfrastructure necessary for carrying out scientific research in collaboration with the global research network. The efforts of these professionals have resulted in associating science with computational science and creating a new field known as e-science. E-science involves increasing collaboration between computational science professionals and scientists, enabling scientists to use the latest software and communication tools to undertake respective research projects.Less

Interdisciplinary Initiatives at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century; or, Institutions Designed to Foster Interdisciplinary Research

John H. Aldrich

in Interdisciplinarity

Most of the literature reflects an assumption that most interesting or influential interdisciplinary research is connected to education and takes place in universities. This chapter raises the ... More

Most of the literature reflects an assumption that most interesting or influential interdisciplinary research is connected to education and takes place in universities. This chapter raises the question of what happens if this academic-centric assumption is untrue, as there is reason to believe that it is probably becoming at least less accurate. The increasing importance of not-for-profit and nongovernmental organizations in research and advocacy suggests that interdisciplinary research takes place in many other places. Initiatives emphasizing different foci can be broadly identified with particular historical moments (e.g., policy issues in the first half of the twentieth century, area studies in the 1950s and 1960s, identity programs in the 1970s and 1980s, methods in the 1990s, particularly as new computing technologies permit new kinds of data analysis).Less

Relativism or a universal theory?

Pieter A. M. Seuren

in From Whorf to Montague: Explorations in the Theory of Language

After a preliminary defence of the term linguistic relativism, as distinct from Whorfianism, it is observed that the principles of science demand that the linguist seeks to establish maximal ... More

After a preliminary defence of the term linguistic relativism, as distinct from Whorfianism, it is observed that the principles of science demand that the linguist seeks to establish maximal generalizations over the languages of the world—language universals. An a priori rejection of universals, common in anthropological linguistics, is thus methodologically unscientific. Relativism accepts only those universals that follow from the necessities imposed by the ecology of language. Universalists maintain that there are universals beyond ecological necessity, mostly found in the ‘abstract’ grammatical machinery of each language, the search for which has just begun. They take the grammar of a language to be a standard module, support coming from cases where speakers have definite judgements of ungrammaticality or impossible semantic readings despite not possibly having encountered the corresponding ‘negative evidence’ nor any underlying rules. Examples are adduced related to internal anaphora resolution, internal versus external datives, and zero-causatives in English. A few tentative ‘abstract’ language universals are proposed. Special attention is paid to constituent structure as a universal for the analysis of linguistic structures.Less

Changing Conceptions of National History in Twentieth-Century China

Ying-shih Yü

Josephine Chiu-Duke and Michael S. Duke (eds)

in Chinese History and Culture: Seventeenth Century Through Twentieth Century

Recognizing that in traditional China “dynastic history” was the dominant historiographical paradigm, this essay describes the quiet revolution in historical thought that led to a paradigmatic shift ... More

Recognizing that in traditional China “dynastic history” was the dominant historiographical paradigm, this essay describes the quiet revolution in historical thought that led to a paradigmatic shift in Chinese historiography from “dynastic history” to “national history.” It discusses the changes that took place between 1917 and 1937, or the golden age of Chinese historiography. It ends with Qian Mu’s magisterial Outline History of the Nation as a national history for all Chinese.Less

Aliens of the World Unite!: A Meditation on Belonging in a Multispecies World

Banu Subramaniam (ed.)

in Ghost Stories for Darwin: The Science of Variation and the Politics of Diversity

This chapter explores how academic, intellectual, political, personal, natural, and cultural voices came into conversation with each other. Rarely do we explore the profound ways in which these same ... More

This chapter explores how academic, intellectual, political, personal, natural, and cultural voices came into conversation with each other. Rarely do we explore the profound ways in which these same narratives of personal, cultural, political, and economic contexts and the various life experiences or the trials and tribulations of one's life can have a profound and uncanny influence on scientific epistemology and methodology. This chapter argues that the cultural contexts of science are not just a byproduct or curiosity but in fact can be the source of new insights, new theories, and new knowledge for science. Studying science in context affords a glimpse into the entanglements of the natural and cultural, the personal and professional, and the political and intellectual, entanglements that become a rich site for new knowledge and theory making.Less

For Fabricating Science: Do animals have a sense of prestige?

Vinciane Despret

in What Would Animals Say If We Asked the Right Questions?

This chapter explores ethology’s shifts in their scientific understanding of animal subjectivity: animals have been conceived of as both subjects with the capacity for aesthetic judgment and as ... More

This chapter explores ethology’s shifts in their scientific understanding of animal subjectivity: animals have been conceived of as both subjects with the capacity for aesthetic judgment and as biologically programmed automatons. The author considers studies of peacocks and babblers’ costly exhibitions of prestige, anthropomorphic and experimental methodologies, to reveal how the birds predict, translate, and respond to the intentions of others.Less

For Necessity: Can one lead a rat to infanticide?

Vinciane Despret

in What Would Animals Say If We Asked the Right Questions?

The chapter explores the conditioned and impelled nature of rat infanticide under experimental conditions, revealing it as an induced behaviour. The sociobiological theory of intrasexual competition ... More

The chapter explores the conditioned and impelled nature of rat infanticide under experimental conditions, revealing it as an induced behaviour. The sociobiological theory of intrasexual competition for gene dissemination reveals contextual sociocultural assumptions such as chauvinism and sexual prejudice in research interpretations, and debates the scientific narratives that arise as a resultLess

Recall

Kelly Bulkeley

in Big Dreams: The Science of Dreaming and the Origins of Religion

This chapter addresses the question of whether or not dreaming is a legitimate subject for scientific research. There are many questions about the reliability and validity of dream reports as ... More

This chapter addresses the question of whether or not dreaming is a legitimate subject for scientific research. There are many questions about the reliability and validity of dream reports as evidence in science, and these questions are discussed in relation to well-established findings about dream recall among various populations. After looking at the etymological roots of the words for “dreaming” in different languages around the world, the chapter examines historical and contemporary sources of information about how often people remember their dreams, and what factors increase or decrease their frequency of recall. Also discussed are people who claim to never remember their dreams, a group that turns out to represent a very small percentage of the general population. The best available scientific data support the idea that humans are a dreaming species.Less

For Hierarchies: Might the dominance of males be a myth?

Vinciane Despret

in What Would Animals Say If We Asked the Right Questions?

This chapter interrogates the commonly held assumption that competitive hierarchies organized around physical dominance—often among males for access to females of a species—stems from experimental ... More

This chapter interrogates the commonly held assumption that competitive hierarchies organized around physical dominance—often among males for access to females of a species—stems from experimental conventions that produce the behaviours they were designed to observe. The author cites several counterexamples among primates and wolves and criticizes the theory of dominance for its artificial introduction of scarce resources and stress in captivity.Less