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Articles 1 - 9 of 9
Full-Text Articles in Philosophy of Science
State Of The Field: Why Novel Prediction Matters, P.D. Magnus, Heather Douglas
State Of The Field: Why Novel Prediction Matters, P.D. Magnus, Heather Douglas
Philosophy Faculty Scholarship
It has become commonplace to say that novel predictive success is not epistemically special. Its value over accommodation, if it has any, is taken to be superficial or derivative. We argue that the value of predictive success is indeed instrumental. Nevertheless, it is a powerful instrument that provides significant epistemic assurances at many different levels. Even though these assurances are in principle dispensable, real science is rarely (if ever) in the position to confidently obtain them in other ways. So we argue for a pluralist instrumental predictivism: novel predictive success is important for inferences from data to phenomena, from phenomena …
What Scientists Know Is Not A Function Of What Scientists Know, P.D. Magnus
What Scientists Know Is Not A Function Of What Scientists Know, P.D. Magnus
Philosophy Faculty Scholarship
There are two senses of ‘what scientists know’: An individual sense (the separate opinions of individual scientists) and a collective sense (the state of the discipline). The latter is what matters for policy and planning, but it is not something that can be directly observed or reported. A function can be defined to map individual judgments onto an aggregate judgment. I argue that such a function cannot effectively capture community opinion, especially in cases that matter to us.
Causal Explanation Of Human Behavior In The Social Sciences, Maria R. Zavada
Causal Explanation Of Human Behavior In The Social Sciences, Maria R. Zavada
Department of Philosophy: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
The social sciences have something to offer our understanding of human behavior. However, the social sciences have been subjected to a great deal of criticism, both internally and externally. Cultural anthropology provides a microcosm of the problems within the social sciences and serves as an apt case study. There are many problems with the social sciences, some as fundamental as whether or not the social sciences are indeed sciences, and others that address specific issues with goals, methods, and data collection.
Using anthropology as a case study, I articulate the connection between the methodological problems in anthropology and the philosophical …
The Fine-Tuning Of Nomic Behavior In Multiverse Scenarios, Max Lewis Edward Andrews
The Fine-Tuning Of Nomic Behavior In Multiverse Scenarios, Max Lewis Edward Andrews
Masters Theses
The multiverse hypothesis (the view that there is not just one world or universe in existence, bur rather that there are many) is the leading alternative to the competing fine-tuning hypothesis (the laws of physics and constants are fine-tuned for the existence of life). The multiverse dispels many aspects of the fine-tuning argument by suggesting that there are different initial conditions in each universe, varying constants of physics, and the laws of nature lose their known arbitrary values; thus, making the previous single-universe argument from fine- tuning incredibly weak. The position that will be advocated will be that a form …
Removing The Classical Landmark: Assessing An Epistemology Governed By Methodological Naturalism, Kegan Shaw
Removing The Classical Landmark: Assessing An Epistemology Governed By Methodological Naturalism, Kegan Shaw
Masters Theses
This paper proposes to assess the naturalist project in epistemology with an eye towards exposing the project as deficient for serving as a robust epistemological project. Epistemologists treasure a certain family of questions and burden themselves with a number of specific concerns the most important of which, I think, cannot be answered by the epistemological naturalist. Ignoring these questions, I will argue, essentially amounts to a dismissal of the principle tension that primarily motivates and properly guides epistemological theorizing. This tension is the familiar appearance vs. reality distinction and characterizes what I am calling the classical landmark or boundary-stone for …
The Untenability Of A Priori Prior Probabilities In Objective Bayesian Conditionalization, C.S. Arledge
The Untenability Of A Priori Prior Probabilities In Objective Bayesian Conditionalization, C.S. Arledge
Senior Honors Theses
The problem of theory confirmation has been an issue in the philosophy of science for decades. Many valiant attempts have been made to formulate a generally accepted criterion for determining the validity of a scientific theory. Bayesian probability theory has been utilized in numerous attempts to examine the epistemic nature of theory confirmation and Jonathan Weisberg offers a formulation of Bayesian Conditionalization that he believes to be both objective and successful.
In this paper I intend to show the defects in Weisberg’s theory of objective Bayesian confirmation by utilizing the arguments of both W.V. Quine and Bas van Fraassen to …
The Degeneration Of The Human Mind: An Analysis Of Alzheimer’S Disease, A Kuhnian Perspective, Genevieve Ilg
The Degeneration Of The Human Mind: An Analysis Of Alzheimer’S Disease, A Kuhnian Perspective, Genevieve Ilg
Spring 2013, Kuhn's Philosophy of Science
In 1906, a German physician, Dr. Alois Alzheimer, specifically identified a collection of brain cell abnormalities (and the formation of plaque in the brain) as a disease, which forever changed the way scientists view degenerative cognitive disorders. Today, this brain disease bears his name, and is one of the most common diseases among the aging population. The discovery of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) can be seen as a revolutionary, paradigmatic shift in regards to scientific discovery from a Kuhnian perspective. In that vein, the discovery presents philosophical implications for the notion of personhood and how those suffering from AD are treated …
Science And Religion Take Practice: Engaging Science As Culture, James K.A. Smith
Science And Religion Take Practice: Engaging Science As Culture, James K.A. Smith
University Faculty Publications and Creative Works
This article argues that current paradigms in the theology/science conversation effectively treat “science” as if it were equivalent to “nature”—with detrimental effects for the encounter between Christian theology and the natural sciences. In contrast, I suggest that recognizing science as culture has important implications for reconfiguring the theology/science dialogue.
Commentary: Critical Analysis Of Chiropractic At The Crossroads Or Are We Just Going Around In Circles., Dennis M. Richards
Commentary: Critical Analysis Of Chiropractic At The Crossroads Or Are We Just Going Around In Circles., Dennis M. Richards
Dennis M Richards
This commentary presents critical analysis of a paper published by Dr John Reggars, and based, as he admitted, on his perceptions and opinions. Many of those are wrong. Others raise important questions. Sourced from a lecture presented by him at the 2010 annual conference of the Chiropractic and Osteopathic College of Australia (‘COCA’), this polemic is best understood in its historical and political contexts. COCA’s objects include political activity and Reggars is its vice president, which he failed to declare.