Difference between revisions of "Philosophy of science"

Revision as of 03:20, October 16, 2008

Philosophy of science describes the fundamental doctrines which underlie scientific approaches to understanding the world.

Science itself is ultimately philosophical. Proof:

Science as a process includes the various means of experimentation, observation, and analysis leading to empirically testable claims about the physical universe;
Philosophy is the process by which humans develop and organize their thought processes, values, and criteria for "truth," which are not empirically testable;
Science as a process as described above cannot itself be empirically tested; on the contrary, it is a human means of understanding the universe which is not empirically testable;
Therefore, science as a process is not itself scientific; rather, it is philosophical.

For a primer on the subject, see Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

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 ==Science as philosophy==
 Science itself is ultimately philosophical.  Proof:
-* Science <i>as a process</i> are the various means of experimentation, observation, and analysis leading to empirically testable claims about the physical universe;
+* Science <i>as a process</i> includes the various means of experimentation, observation, and analysis leading to empirically testable claims about the physical universe;
-* Philosophy is the process by which humans develop and organize their thought processes, values, and criteria for "truth," and is not empirically testable;
+* Philosophy is the process by which humans develop and organize their thought processes, values, and criteria for "truth," which are not empirically testable;
 * Science <i>as a process</i> as described above cannot itself be empirically tested; on the contrary, it is a human means of understanding the universe which is not empirically testable;
 * Therefore, science <i>as a process</i> is not itself scientific; rather, it is philosophical.