Explanation

NS1300Dr. Brad Hoge

Natural Phenomena

• Observations of Nature

• The Need for Explanation

• Mythology

• Experience

• Metaphysics

Ancient Civilizations

• Mesopotamia– Babylonian Astronomy

• Egypt• India• China• Mesoamerica

– Maya– Toltec– Aztec Astronomy

• Druid Astronomy• Hindu Astronomy• Tibetan Astronomy

Early Philosophers

• Greek Philosophers– The Ontologists (Materialism)– Socrates• Socratic Method• Theory of Forms

– Plato• Platonic Realism• Idealism

– Aristotle• Empiricism

Eastern Philosophy

• Eastern philosophy includes the various philosophies of Asia– Indian philosophy– Chinese philosophy– Iranian philosophy– Japanese philosophy– Korean philosophy– Arab philosophy– Jewish philosophy

• Synthesis of Eastern and Western Philosophy

East and Middle East Philosophers

• Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen)– phenomenology and the philosophy of science

• Al-Jahiz – evolution and natural selection

• Fakhr al-Din al-Razi – Inductivism

• Al Biruni– early scientific method

• Avicenna– early philosophy of science

• Shen Kuo

Scientific Reasoning

• Before the development of modern science, scientific questions were addressed as a part of metaphysics known as "natural philosophy“

• The term "science" itself meant "knowledge" of epistemological origin

• The scientific method made natural philosophy an empirical and experimental activity unlike the rest of philosophy

• By the end of the eighteenth century it had begun to be called "science" to distinguish it from philosophy

The Enlightenment

• Was not a single movement or school of thought

• Less a set of ideas than it was a set of values

• A critical questioning of traditional institutions, customs, and morals

• A strong belief in rationality and science.

Philosophy of Science

• Descartes

• Bacon– Observation, hypothesis, experimentation

• Popper– prediction from theory– Falsifiability

• Kuhn

Scientific Method

• Hypothetico-Deductive Model

Explanation

• Logic

• Cause and Effect

• Levels of Understanding

• Tautology

• Reductionism

Emergence of Modern Science

• Galileo

• Newton

• Boyle

• Darwin

• Einstein

The Keys to Science

• Falsifiability

• Inquiry

• Inductive Reasoning

• Deductive Reasoning

• Controlled Experimentation

Quiz

• 1. T or F, Ibn al-Haytham was one of the earliest scientists.

• 2. T or F, falsifiability is a key to the scientific method.

• 3. T or F, there are more than one way to do science.

• 4. T or F, causes always precede effects.

• 5. T or F, the scientific method began with Francis Bacon.