science as knowledge: the problem

science is 'organised common sense' - Thomas Huxley(1825-1895)'The man of science simply uses with scrupulous exactness themethod which we all, habitually and at every moment, usecarelessly.'

Common sense:

basic ability to perceive, understand, andjudge things which is shared by ("common to") nearly allpeople, and can be reasonably expected of nearly all peoplewithout any need for debate.We can't always trust our common sensecontradictory common sense:'absence makes the heart grow fonder'versusout of 'sight, out of mind'.

science as knowledge: the problem

science is 'organised common sense' - Thomas Huxley(1825-1895)'The man of science simply uses with scrupulous exactness themethod which we all, habitually and at every moment, usecarelessly.'

Common sense:

basic ability to perceive, understand, andjudge things which is shared by ("common to") nearly allpeople, and can be reasonably expected of nearly all peoplewithout any need for debate.We can't always trust our common sensecontradictory common sense:'absence makes the heart grow fonder'versusout of 'sight, out of mind'.

science as knowledge: the problem

science is 'organised common sense' - Thomas Huxley(1825-1895)'The man of science simply uses with scrupulous exactness themethod which we all, habitually and at every moment, usecarelessly.'

Common sense:

basic ability to perceive, understand, andjudge things which is shared by ("common to") nearly allpeople, and can be reasonably expected of nearly all peoplewithout any need for debate.We can't always trust our common sensecontradictory common sense:'absence makes the heart grow fonder'versusout of 'sight, out of mind'.

science as knowledge: the problem

science is 'organised common sense' - Thomas Huxley(1825-1895)'The man of science simply uses with scrupulous exactness themethod which we all, habitually and at every moment, usecarelessly.'

Common sense:

basic ability to perceive, understand, andjudge things which is shared by ("common to") nearly allpeople, and can be reasonably expected of nearly all peoplewithout any need for debate.We can't always trust our common sensecontradictory common sense:'absence makes the heart grow fonder'versusout of 'sight, out of mind'.

What is wrong with this map?

Hobo-Dyer representation:

paradox of cartography: 'If a map is to be useful, it must ofnecessity be imperfect'slogan: The map is not the territory

Betrayal of images - Rene' Magritte (Belgian surrealist: 1898-1967)

paradox of cartography: 'If a map is to be useful, it must ofnecessity be imperfect'slogan: The map is not the territory

Betrayal of images - Rene' Magritte (Belgian surrealist: 1898-1967)

paradox of cartography: 'If a map is to be useful, it must ofnecessity be imperfect'slogan: The map is not the territory

Betrayal of images - Rene' Magritte (Belgian surrealist: 1898-1967)

Certainty'What men really want is not knowledge but certainty.' Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)How do we know what is certain?

Certainty'What men really want is not knowledge but certainty.' Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)How do we know what is certain?

The nature of knowledge

'Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts' - Feynman(1918-88).Who is an expert - someone who has knowledge!!!'If the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would bethat of an expert saying it can't be done.' - Peter Ustinov(1921-2004).

What we knowGeneralised beliefsI knowI believeI justiably believewhatwhatwhatwhatwhat

is part of my common senseI hear or read in words of a languageI perceive through senses or devices/machinesI reason outI emotionally relate to

'Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in theabsence of good grounds for belief, he will be satised with badones.' - Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)

VagueWell-supportedBeyond reasonable doubt

VagueWell-supportedBeyond reasonable doubt

Levels: knowledge vs. information,second -hand knowledge: authority/testimonycultural traditionschoolinternetexpert opinionnews/medialimitations

rational and intuitive knowledge

Ways of knowing:LanguageAlmost all education is language education - Neil Postman(1931-2003)Thought is not merely expressed in words, it comes into existencethrough them - L Vygotsky (1896-1934)Sapir (1884-1939)-Whorf (1879-1941) hypothesis: Languagedetermines our experience of reality, and we can see or think onlywhat our language allows us to see and think

Ways of knowing:LanguageAlmost all education is language education - Neil Postman(1931-2003)Thought is not merely expressed in words, it comes into existencethrough them - L Vygotsky (1896-1934)Sapir (1884-1939)-Whorf (1879-1941) hypothesis: Languagedetermines our experience of reality, and we can see or think onlywhat our language allows us to see and think

Ways of knowing:

LanguageAlmost all education is language education - Neil Postman(1931-2003)Thought is not merely expressed in words, it comes into existencethrough them - L Vygotsky (1896-1934)Sapir (1884-1939)-Whorf (1879-1941) hypothesis: Languagedetermines our experience of reality, and we can see or think onlywhat our language allows us to see and think

Language is a complex phenomenon1

rule-governed

2

intended

3

creative and open-ended

Ambiguity and secondary meaningConsider the noun 'Dream'1

A series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occurringinvoluntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep.

2

A daydream; a reverie.

3

A state of abstraction; a trance.

4

A wild fancy or hope.

5

A condition or achievement that is longed for; an aspiration

6

One that is exceptionally gratifying, excellent, or beautiful

Harlem By Langston HughesWhat happens to a dream deferred?Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?Or fester like a sore And then run?Does it stink like rotten meat?Or crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet?Maybe it just sagslike a heavy load.Or does it explode?

The language of scienceTheory and quantication: MathematicsTools and methodology: technical vocabulary - little space forambiguity

problems of translation

Perception: the awareness of things through ve sensesThe greatest calamity ... is not ... be born blind, but rather that...should have eyes and yet fail to see - Helen Keller (1880-1968)

Are devices used in scientic experiments extension of oursenses?

Perception: the awareness of things through ve sensesThe greatest calamity ... is not ... be born blind, but rather that...should have eyes and yet fail to see - Helen Keller (1880-1968)

Are devices used in scientic experiments extension of oursenses?

Perception: the awareness of things through ve senses

The greatest calamity ... is not ... be born blind, but rather that...should have eyes and yet fail to see - Helen Keller (1880-1968)

Are devices used in scientic experiments extension of oursenses?

Perception: the awareness of things through ve senses

The greatest calamity ... is not ... be born blind, but rather that...should have eyes and yet fail to see - Helen Keller (1880-1968)

Are devices used in scientic experiments extension of oursenses?

Empiricism [John Locke (1632 1704)]: All knowledge isultimately based on our perception.Common-sense realism: 'What you see is what is there' :Perception is a passive and relatively straightforward processwhich gives us an accurate picture of reality.scientic realism: 'Atoms in the void'phenomenalism (radical empiricism) [George Berkeley (1685

1753); David Hume (1711 1776); John Stuart Mill (1806 1873)]:

'To be is to be perceived'

Perceptual illusionssensation : provided by the worldinterpretation : provided by our minds

ContextExpectationsThe role of the unconscious

selectivity of perceptionseeing and believing'seeing is believing' versus 'believing is seeing'

science: 'Vulcan' - a planet between mercury and the sun?HistoryArt

Reason'You are not thinking, you are merely being logical - Niels Bohr(1885-1962) to Albert Einstein'The madman is not the man who has lost his reason. The madmanis the man who has lost everything but his reason.'- G K Chesterton (1874-1936).

Reason: gives us certainty?premises=conclusions: gives us certainty?Three kinds of reasoningdeductiveinductiveinformal

Truth and validityThe validity of an argument is independent of the truth orfalsity of the premises it containsAn argument can be valid not only when its premises andconclusions are false but also when premises are false and theconclusion is truethe only situation that is impossible is a valid argument withtrue premises and a false conclusions

Deduction

Induction

DenitionReasoning from general to particular Reasoning from particular to generalExampleAll metals expand when heatedMetal A expands when heated;A is a metalmetal B expands when heated;metal C expands when heated; A expands when heated all metals expand when heated.ValueMore certainMore informativeless informative than inductionless certain than deduction

How reliable is inductive reasoning?

What we knowGeneralised beliefsI knowI believeI justiably believewhatwhatwhatwhatwhat

is part of my common senseI hear or read in words of a languageI perceive through senses or devices/machinesI reason outI emotionally relate to

General criteria of GOOD generalisations:1

Number (ofinstances

2

Variety (in

3

Exceptions (prove

4

Coherence (with everything else known): demand moreevidence to support surprising claims

5

Subject area (of expertise ): natural sciences vs. social sciences.

observations

observations

): look for a reasonable number of

): look for a variety of circumstances

the rule

): look actively for counterexamples.

Emotion:

Emotion:

Emotions provide the energy to engage in intellectual activity.emotions as obstacle to knowledgeemotions as source of knowledgeintuition

Emotions provide the energy to engage in intellectual activity.emotions as obstacle to knowledge

emotions as source of knowledgeintuition

RationalisationsBiased perceptionFallacious reasoningEmotive languageBiasedperceptionFallacious reasoning

Emotive languagePowerfulemotions

Intuitionscore intuitionsThe heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing Pascal (1623-62)Axioms in philosophy are not axioms until they are provedupon our pulses - Keats (195-1821)

subject-specic intuitionssocial intuitionsnatural and educated intuitions

Radical doubthttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120382/The Truman Show (1998)

Radical doubthttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120382/

The Truman Show (1998)

'All truth is relative''Really, is that true?''Yes!''Absolutely true?''I guess not because I said that all truth is relative''So the statement

All truth is relative is only relatively true, right?

'Yes!''So it could be true for you and not for me'Hang on!, I need to think about it'

Ad ignorantiamHasty generalisationPost hoc ergo propter hocAd hominemCircular reasoningSpecial pleadingEquivocationFalse analogyFalse dilemmaLoaded question

Claiming something is true becauseit cannot be proved to be falseGeneralising from insucient evidenceConfusing a correlation with a causal connectionAttacking/supporting a person rather than argumentAssuming the truth of what is supposed to be provendouble standards to excuse an individual/groupUsing language ambiguouslyAssuming that because two things are alikein some respects they are alike in other respectsAssuming - only two black & white alternatives existquestion biased because it has a built in assumption

The role of Judgment

Danger: gullibilityscepticism

Danger: gullibilityscepticism

Reasonable knowledge: Evidence, Coherence

Justied true belief: Truth, belief

Reasonable knowledge: Evidence, Coherence

Justied true belief: Truth, belief

VagueWell-supportedBeyond reasonable doubt

VagueWell-supportedBeyond reasonable doubt