Philosophy of Science

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Philosophy of Science 1

The human brain ties group observed things together and 'creates' an explanation for the inter-relationship of the observations. 

Some of what we see is determined by what we expect to see. 

Our ability to 'see' things is determined by what we have seen before 

Cells twenty per mm - microscope, genes five hundred thousand per mm -  electron microscope, atoms and electrons are theoretically observable, nucleus five hundred billion per mm and quarks more than one million billion per mm observable in a particle accelerator. 

In order to observe some things we need to use other things that themselves depend upon scientific theories. Theory determines how we see and what we see. 

This is termed 'theory of dependence of observation. 

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Philosophy of Science 2

Science: 'facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws' General laws explaining observations of general laws. 

The law of induction: Inferring general laws from observation, however one organism can disprove a theory which introduces the inportance of falsification. 

Good theories go beyond just explanation of observation. They make predictions. Predictions are good if they generate testable hypotheses. This leads to experimentation. 

The distinction between core theories and peripheral theories is the probabilistic view of proof. 

As the number of observed phenomena increase that are no longer explicable on the basis of the current theory we talk of anomalous observations.  

When paradigms 'shift' peoples views of the world change and previously held views are contradicted. 

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