Transcript PHIL 100 (STOLZE)

PHILOSOPHY 107 (STOLZE)
Notes on Geoffrey Gorham,
Philosophy of Science,
Chapter 2
Defining Science
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Limitations of the historical approach to defining science
(analogy with the boundaries of a country)
Testability (ex: prayer vs. drug treatment as explanations of
a patient’s recovery from a serious illness)
Karl Popper’s Demarcation Criterion
Objections to Falsificationism
An example: astrology
Popper’s Demarcation Criterion
“A theory is scientific to the extent that it is falsifiable by
empirical tests” (p. 32)
Objections to Falsificationism
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Is falsification really the aim of science?
Science doesn’t work this way.
An Example of a Pseudo-Science: Astrology
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Carl Sagan on astrology
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB88HnlLgZ8&feature=r
elated)
Richard Dawkins on astrology
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlMiKrwCRQ0)