Ad Hoc Modification
HU3700: Study Questions for Exam 1
Define, Explain, Describe, Identify
absolutism
ad hoc hypothesis
anarchism
anomaly
“anything goes”
argument
Aristotle’s universe
auxiliary assumption
bold conjecture
cautious conjecture
confirmation
conjecture
Copernican revolution
Copernicus
crisis
deductive
degenerating
Duhem/Quine thesis
empiricism
epicycle
ether
experiment
experimental setup
explanation
fact
fallible
falsifiability, degrees of
falsifiable
inductivism
initial condition
Kepler
Kuhn, Thomasfalsificationism
falsificationist criterion
of science
Feyerabend, Paul
Galileo
geocentric (Ptolemaic)
model
Gestalt switch
hard core
heliocentric
(Copernican) model
Hypothesis
incommensurable
inductive
inductivism
Lakatos, Imre
logic
natural place
negative heuristic
Newton, Isaac
normal science
observation statement
paradigm
paradigm shift
parallax
Popper, Karl
positive heuristic
prediction
pre-science
principle of induction
problem of induction
progress, scientific
progressive
protective belt
pseudoscience
rational
relativism
relevant fact
religious conversion
research program
revolution
scientific community
scientific method
scientific progress
senses
sophisticated
falsificationism
sound argument
structures, theories as
sub-lunar region
super-lunar region
theory
theory-dependent
Tower argument
valid
verification
Discussion
- What exactly is the “common view of science” that Chalmers discusses in the first chapter of your textbook?
- What are the main problems with the view that facts are directly given to us by way of the senses?
- What are the main problems with the view that factsexist prior to and independent of theory?
- Why are experiments particularly useful in science as a means of obtaining facts? Howcan the acceptability of experimental results sometimes depend on theory? Illustrate with an example.
- What is deductive reasoning? What is inductive reasoning? How is deductive reasoning used in science? Illustrate with an example. How is inductive reasoning involved in science? Illustrate with an example.
- What is the principle of induction? What are the main difficultieswith applying the principle in actual scientific practice? Illustrate each problem with an example.
- What is the problem of induction? What solutions to the problem have been proposed? In your view, are any of them successful? Explain.
- What is inductivism? What are the main problems with that view?
- What are the main differences between falsificationism (the original Popperian version) and inductivism?
- How do the falsificationists attempt to distinguish between science and pseudoscience? Could a true theory be falsifiable? If so, how?
- How do falsificationists attempt to solve the problem of induction? Explain in detail.
- What are the main differences between sophisticated falsificationism and the original (Popperian) version of falsificationism? What problems with the original version were the modifications intended to correct?
- What are the main objections to sophisticated falsificationism? What is the Duhem/Quine thesis? What objection to sophisticated falsificationism is based on that thesis?
- What was the Copernican revolution? When did it occur? What world view did it overturn? What aspects of that view were replaced, and what were they replaced with?
- Why did it take approximately 150 years for the Copernican revolution to be completed? What were some of the developments in science that eventually led to the Copernican model’s being accepted? Explain how critics of falsificationism use the Copernican revolution to make their case?
- What does Kuhn mean by “paradigm”? What do paradigms include, according to Kuhn?
- What does Kuhn mean when he says that competing paradigms are “incommensurable”? What reasons does Kuhn give for claiming that competing paradigms are incommensurable?
- What sorts of arguments are used in debates between the proponents of competing paradigms, according to Kuhn? What factors determine who eventually wins those debates? Explain.
- What does Kuhn mean by “normal science”? What sort of research do scientists engage in during periods of normal science?
- What is an anomaly? How do scientists deal with anomalies during periods of normal science, according to Kuhn?
- What does Kuhn mean by “scientific revolution”? Under what conditions do scientific revolutions occur? What differences do scientific revolutions make in the way science is practiced?
- Discuss whether Kuhn is an absolutist or a relativist in his views about scientific change. What are his views on scientific progress? What does he say about the view that science is steadily getting closer to the true principles of the natural universe?
- What does Lakatos mean by “research program” in science? What are the components of such a program? Compare and contrast Lakatos’s notion of a research program with Kuhn’s notion of a paradigm.
- According to Lakatos, how are research programs evaluated? Under what conditions do scientists replace one research program with another?
- Compare and contrast Kuhn’s and Lakatos’s views on the subject of scientific change. What roles do rationality and logic play in scientific change, according to Kuhn and Lakatos?
- Discuss whether Lakatos is an absolutist or a relativist in his views about scientific change. What are his views on scientific progress? What does scientific progress consists of, according to Lakatos?
- In what ways is Feyerabend’s philosophy of science “anarchistic”? On what grounds does Feyerabend argue that there is no universal scientific method? What are his views on science vs. pseudoscience?