foundations of science | Course Paper

=’=1/22/19 Nature of Science and Non Science

❏ Infallible – never wrong

❏ Satanic day care cases 1980s-1990s

❏ Fran & dan keller accused & convicted, sentenced to 48 years in prison

❏ How do you decide what is scientific?

❏ experiments , data, analysis

BASIC Premises of science

1.) The world is real

2.) We can understand the universe

3.) Natural world can be explained through natural processes

4.) Knowledge is available to everyone

Two ways to think about the meaning of science

1.) Body of facts – find a meaning using meaningful context

2.) Science is a method of learning about the natural world

❏ SCIENCE– effort to make discoveries and increase our understanding of how

physical reality works

❏ THEORY- an explanation

❏ EMPIRICISM- idea that science is based on sensory experience; it is observable and

measurable

FOUNDATIONS OF SCIENCE

~Empiricism

~SKEPTICISM

~Self correcting

~Critical thinking

~multiple working hypothesis

~Occam’s Razor

1/24/18 CONTINUED

❏ NOMA-non overlapping magisteria

❏ Magisterium- refers to different domains/realms of human experience and

thought

❏ The NOMA PRINCIPLE

❏ THE MAGISTERIUM OF SCIENCE COVERS THE EMPIRICAL REALM: WHAT THE UNIVERSE

IS MADE OF(FACT) AND WHY IT WORKS IN A CERTAIN WAY(THEORY).

❏ THE MAGISTERIUM OF RELIGION DEALS WITH QUESTIONS OF ULTIMATE MEANING

AND MORAL VALUE

The ScIENTIFIC METHOD

1.) OBSERVE

2.) Make a hypothesis

3.) Make predictions

4.) Test

1/29/19

❏ FACT-something known to be true

❏ Hypothesis- a proposal intended to explain certain facts or observations can be

tested

❏ Law- a description of what occurs

❏ Theory-a model of reality that attempts to explain what’s going on

❏ To be accepted, an idea must be logical and tested

❏ Skepticism- a form of critical thinking that uses reason and evidence to

determine if something is true

❏ Doesn’t mean that nothing can be known

❏ Close-mindedness is the opposite

❏ Which conclusion does the evidence best support

❏ Science combines skepticism/critical thinking with the scientific method

to better understand the world.

❏ SCIENCE works because……

❏ Empirical- not wishful thinking

❏ Objective and repeatable

❏ Personality and persuasiveness are irrelevant

❏ Method is universal-state of mind, gender, and religion are

irrelevant

❏ It is SELF CORRECTING*

1/31/19

❏ Critical thinking- process of evaluating the validity of claims on the basis of well

supported evidence.

❏ What am i being asked to believe or accept?

❏ What evidence is available to support the claim?

❏ Are there alternative ways to interpret the evidence?

❏ What additional evidence would help evaluate the alternatives?

❏ WHAT CONCLUSIONS ARE THE MOST REASONABLE?

❏ FILCHERS- RULES TO USE WHEN EVALUATING CLAIMS

1.) FALSIFIABILITY- MUST BE POSSIBLE TO TEST

-use of supernatural explanation is non-falsifiable

-use of a vague claim lacks meaning

-use of a multiple out(excuses)

2.)

❏ Dissonance- feeling of discomfort that occurs when something contradicts our

beliefs

❏ Dissonance=number of conflicting facts X the importance\number of

supporting facts X Importance

❏ To reduce dissonance we can…..

❏ Devalue or dismiss contradictory evidence

❏ Focus only on supporting info

❏ Successful dissonance reduction=maintain belief

2/7/19 EVALUATING CLAIMS

❏ Academia- doctorate degree

❏ Expert- person with high degree of skill derived from education training or

experience

❏ THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN EVALUATING CLAIMS FROM AUTHORITY

❏ Does the authority use critical thinking skills ?

❏ Proper credentials?

❏ Appropriate affiliations?

❏ Financial stake?

❏ Has work been subject to peer review ?

❏ Are arguments based on unsupportable claims?

❏ In general its best to accept the conclusions of experts because

❏ They have more info about a topic

❏ Better judges of relevant info

❏ There is good reason to doubt a claim if it conflicts with expert opinion

❏ Nazca lines are geoglyphs

❏ The burden of proof is on the claimant

❏ Occam’s razor- The idea that one should not make more assumptions than is

necessary to explain something

❏ In order for science to be done successfully it is necessary to always assume that

there is a natural explanation

2/12/19