HPS100H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Scientific Realism, String Theory, Instrumentalism
22 Oct 2017
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Earth and water were heavy and therefor would descend to the center of the universe (earth). The light elements have a natural tendency to ascend towards the lunar region. Hps lecture 2 absolute knowledge: can science or anyone definitively prove something to be absolutely true, beliefs and theories change over time. Immanuel kant agrees with aristotle and upholds the possibility of infallible empirical theories. It has only been about ~100 yrs since we determined that empirical science cannot have proof: two camps. If there are no fixed methods then is the whole process of scientific method irrational: scientific mosaic = set of accepted theories and employed methods, absolute relativism. Is there something that governs the transition of methods. In formal science we are inconsistency intolerant: this is because established principals are absolutely true, therefore when one is wrong we immediately throw it out.
