Theories of Science

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  • Created by: Sarah
  • Created on: 27-01-15 14:38

Science is objectie and evidence based:

  • Sceintist clame there is a clear distinction between science and other ways of viewing the world
  • Richard Dawkins "When a science book is wrong , somebody eventually discovers the mistake and it is corrected in absequent books. That conspicuously doesnt happen with holy books"

 

Traditinal view:

  1. Science is objective - The scientist is neutral
  2. Scientiific enquiry is evidence based
  3. Scientific enquiry is 'open' - ideas tested and proven wrong are rejected and replaced

 

Challange to the tradition:

Michael Lynch argued science is far less objective

  1. Scientist were more influenced by existing theories
  2. When anomalies occur science often puts in down to errors

Science as a belief system:

Polanyi A belief system is made up of 3 factors

  1. A circulation of beliefs - Each idea within beliefs systems is explained in realtion to others. If one is challanged or fails, it is defended by reference to another, to avoid challanging the belief system
  2. Supporting explanations are given for difficult situations - If there is eveidence to contradict the belief there will be a reason to explain it
  3. No alternative belief system can be tolerated - A sweeping rejection of religion could be seen as an explame of this

Sociology as a science:

Positivies

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