ScienceScience

- as a way of Knowing- as a way of Knowing

Experimental data or

observation

Inductive hypothesis

Prediction and experimental

test

Theory is confirmed and

tentatively accepted

Theory is falsified and

rejected

The Scientific Model

FALSIFICATIONFALSIFICATION

• The encouragement of Falsification is the strength of the scientific method.

• This theory is good until it is disproven.

• It is not possible to prove something but one example of failure can disprove.

Scientific Claims?Scientific Claims?

• The Earth is flat.

• The Earth is not exactly round, but it is actually a bit wider at the equator.

• UFOs regularly visit Earth to abduct humans for experimentation.

• God created the world in seven days approximately 5000 years ago.

• God created the Universe.

• God did not create the Universe.

• In some remote areas of China, there are people who can jump higher than 10 m.

Scientific Claims?Scientific Claims?

• In some remote areas of China, there are people who can jump higher than 10 m, but their society is so secretive that they will never permit outside observers to witness it.

• Love is more important to human beings than anything else.

• If you ask people what they find most important in a multiple choice question, and you include love as a possible answer, then more than 75 per cent will put love at the top of their list.

• Saying 'I love you' to your partner.

• Picasso's painting 'Cannes, 4a.m.' is a beautiful piece of art.

How complete is Science?How complete is Science?

• If Science never proves anything right, why do we trust it so much?

• Think about the Science you learn at school. How likely do you think it is wrong or incomplete?

Consider……..Consider……..

• What are the limitations of scientific enquiry? (In other words, is there anything which science cannot tell us about the world?)

• Can religion or myth be used to explain things which science cannot?

• Should scientists be held morally responsible for their discoveries? Is any area of scientific knowledge morally unacceptable?

• What do you think is meant by the words, "It is through science we prove, but through intuition that we discover"?

Science as a HUMAN EndeavourScience as a HUMAN Endeavour

•Thomas Khun

Kuhn was a historian of science, who noticed that, as a matter of historical fact, scientists did not work by falsification. He said that scientists hold some fundamental beliefs (ie paradigms) so strongly that they are sometimes not prepared to allow them to be falsified; they may ignore or disbelieve findings which seem to disprove them.

ExampleExample

• The paradigm of the earth being the centre of the Universe was technically falsified by Galileo and Kepler but was not accepted for hundreds of years.

Why?

• Can you think of another?

Consider……..Consider……..

• We assume life does not exist on other planets because we believe all life must be based on the element carbon and needs oxygen, light etc to survive.

• Life has been noted in what appears to be very hostile conditions: volcanoes, frozen tundra, submarine volcanic vents etc.

• So….. Is there life on Mars, Jupiter etc?

• If you did an experiment which seemed to have falsified the conservation of energy theory what would you do?

• Do you think Khun’s model is an accurate description of science?

Quotes:Quotes:

• “How odd it is that anyone cannot see that to be useful, all observations must be either FOR or AGAINST some view” Charles Darwin

• If the facts don’t fit in; why so much for the facts…..” – Erasmus Darwin (brother of Charles)

Science - a Universal tool?Science - a Universal tool?

• What distinguishes natural Sciences from other sciences eg Social Science?

• The amazing thing about nature is that, as far as we know, the underlying laws that govern it are unchangeableunchangeable.

• 'People fall in love because of their psychological make-up. Psychology reduces to biology; biology to anatomy; anatomy to chemistry; chemistry to physics. So to be the best psychologist you can be, you should study physics.' On what grounds would you accept or reject this statement?

• Imagine that at some future date we eventually find all the laws of nature -'the rules of the game'. What would that mean for our ability to make things and control the world?

Reductionism

• Some sciences are increasingly taking a holistic approach whereby they try to avoid reduction. Does this mean that they are still sciences, or have they become something else?

• Think back over your science education. What did you learn about the way science works?

• Are the theories discussed in this topic realistic about the way sciences work?

• Are they the way sciences should work?

• What do you imagine professional scientists think makes the natural sciences so special.

Science and Creativity1 How do scientists make new hypotheses? Attempt-to form hypotheses for the following:

– Stars twinkle. – Birds sing.– Air is odourless. – Cuckoos find their way from Singapore to China by themselves. – Berries taste good. – When you release a hydrogen-filled balloon it rises.

Are your hypotheses testable? If so, how?

2 Suppose your new hypothesis has been tested and it failed. We reject it. Come up with another testable hypothesis.

3 It has been said that the most creative minds belonged to Scientists. Einstein’s general theory of relativity is no less a masterpiece than Mozart’s “requiem” or a painting by Picasso. Do you agree? Discuss and come up with some “fors” and “againsts”

•We have considered at least four aspects of sciences: inductivism, falsification, paradigms and creativity.

•Think of some examples of each aspect.

•What are the respective roles of each component?

•Are any components more important than others?

•What are the problems with each aspect?

SUMMARY TASK:

2002 Essay Title2002 Essay Title

• "The arts deal in the particular, the individual and the personal while the sciences deal in the general, the universal and the collective." To what extent does this statement obscure the nature of both “Areas of Knowledge”?