INTRODUCTION

W Wh ha at t i is s p ph hi il lo os so op ph hy y o of f S Sc ci ie en nc ce e

SOURCE: Introductory Readings in
the Philosophy of Science, by
Klemke, Hollinger and Kline (1988)
It is the attempt to understand the meaning, method,
and logical structure of science by means of a logical
and methodological analysis of the aims, methods,
criteria, concepts, laws, and theories of science.

Matters of science
1. causality, law, theory, and explanation
We ask the questions: What is meant by saying that one event is the cause of another?
What is a law of nature? How is it related to other laws? What is the nature of scientific
theory? How are laws related to theories? What are description and explanation is
science? How is explanation related to prediction?

To answer such questions is to engage in logical and methodological analysis. Such
analysis is what philosophy of science is (in part).

2. Observables (e.g. beakers, microscopes, scales, tables, etc.)
Unobservables (e.g. electrons, ions, genes, psi-functions, etc.)
Questions: How are these entities related to things in the everyday world? What does a
word such as positron mean in terms of things we can see, and touch? What is the
logical justification for introducing these words which refer to unobservable entities?

To answer such questions by means of logical and methodological analysis
constitutes another part or aspect what philosophy of science is.
The philosopher of science often takes the common sense standpoint.

Some main topics in Philosophy of Science
1. The formal sciences: logic and mathematics. In what sense, if any, are they sciences? How
do we know logical and mathematical truths? What, if anything, are they true of? What is the
relation of mathematics to empirical science/
2. Scientific description. What constitutes an adequate scientific description? What is the logic
of concept formation which enters into such description?
3. Scientific Explanation. What is meant by saying that science explains? What is a scientific
explanation?
4. Prediction. What makes this possible? What is the relation of prediction to explanation?
5. Causality and law. What are scientific laws? How do they serve to explain? Are there
noncausal laws?
6. Theories, models, and scientific systems. What are theories? How are they related to laws?
How do they function in explanation? What is meant by model in science?
7. Determinism. Discussion of lawfulness lead to the question of determinism. What is meant by
determinism in science? What reason, if any, do we have for thinking ti to be true?
8. Philosophical problems of physical science. e.g., some have held that relativity theory
introduces a subjective component into science. Others have said that quantum physics
denies or refutes determinism. Is it true?
9. Philosophical problems in biology and psychology. Are these sciences genuinely distinct?
Why? The vitalism/mechanism controversy.
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INTRODUCTION
10. The social sciences. There are some who deny that the social sciences are genuine
sciences. Why? Is there any fundamental difference between the natural sciences and the
social sciences?
11. Reduction and the unity of science. Whether it is possible to reduce one science to another
and whether all of the sciences are ultimately reducible to a single science or a combination
of fundamental sciences (such as physics and chemistry).
12. Extensions of science. Sometimes scientists turn into metaphysicians. They make radical
statements about the universe e.g., about the ultimate heat-death, or that it is imbued with
moral progress. Is there any validity in these claims?
13. Science and values. Does science have anything to say with regard to values? Or is it
value-neutral?
14. Science and religion. Do the findings and conclusions of science have any implications for
traditional religious or theological commitments? If so, what are they?
15. Science and culture. What is the relationship of science to various activities and practices
which constitute culture?
16. The limits of science. Are there limits of science? If so, what are they? By what criteria, if
any, can we establish that such limits are genuine?

Philosophy of Science and Science
1. A. Scientists
a. observe what happens in the world and note regularities
b. experiment i.e., manipulate (some) things so that they can be observed under
special circumstances
c. discover (or postulate) laws of nature which are intended to explain regularities
d. combine laws of nature into theories or subsume those laws under theories.

B. Philosopher
Philosophers of science do none of the above things.
Rather, they ask questions such as:
What is a law of nature?
What is a scientific (vs. a nonscientific or unscientific) theory?
What are the criteria (if any) by which to distinguish or demarcate those theories
which are genuinely scientific from those which are not?

2. A. Scientists, like almost everyone else, make deductions.
For example, they often construct a certain theory from various laws and observations
and then from it deduce other theories or laws, or even certain specific occurrences which
serve to test a theory.

B. Philosophers of science do not do that.
Rather they
clarify the nature of deduction (and how it differs from other inferences or reasoning),
describe the role deduction plays in science. For example, they ask how deduction is
involved in the testing of theories.

Thus, we may see that whereas:
science is largely empirical, synthetic, and experimental,
philosophy of science is largely verbal, analytic, and reflective.
Philosophers of Science do not add to our store of factual knowledge of the actual world.
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INTRODUCTION
We may roughly see the difference by examining the following table:

Philosophy - - - is comprised - - - a meta-language
of science of

which refers to


Science - - - is comprised - - - an object-language
of

which refers to


Reality - - - is comprised - - - objects, processes, etc
(or the world) of


Whereas science uses (an object-) language to talk about the objects of
the world, philosophy of science (or at least a large "part" of it) uses (a
meta-) language to talk about the language of science.

In short, we may say:
Science is talk about the world (a certain kind of talk, of course).
Philosophy is talk about language (again, a certain kind of talk, of course).

To summarize the view we have considered:
(1) The sciences consist of such things as listings of data, generalizations from them, the
formulation of laws or trends, theoretical interpretations of data or laws, and
arguments and evidence in favor of them.
(2) Philosophy of science, to a large extent, consist of remarks about the language of
science: the analysis of concepts, methods and arguments of the various sciences;
and also the analysis of the principle: underlying science.

Once again, according to that characterization,

PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE is the attempt to understand the meaning,
method, and logical structure of science by means of a logical and
methodological analysis of the aims, methods, criteria, concepts, laws,
and theories of science.

Finally, a proposed amended characterization of the philosophy of science.

PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE is the attempt
(a) to understand the method, foundations, and logical structure of science and
(b) to examine the relations and interfaces of science and other human concerns,
institutions, and quests, by means of
(c) a logical and methodological analysis both of the aims, methods, and criteria of
science and of the aims, methods, and concerns of various cultural phenomena
in their relations to science.
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