HPS100H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Testability, Falsifiability, Dark Territory

• School: UTSG
• Department: History and Philosophy of Science and Technology
• Course: HPS100H1
• Professor: Hakob Barseghyan

Document Summary

Since all theories are fallible, the question is whether some of them are closer to the truth than others. We are just changing at the way how we look at the phenomena, not behind the curtain. Science progresses towards truth (scientific theories provide increasingly correct descriptions of the external world. No miracle argument: empirical success of science: more and more accurate and precise (converging a greater degree of accuracy) We (cid:272)a(cid:374)(cid:859)t k(cid:374)o(cid:449) (cid:449)hethe(cid:396) s(cid:272)ie(cid:374)(cid:272)e p(cid:396)og(cid:396)esses to(cid:449)a(cid:396)ds t(cid:396)uth (cid:894)(cid:449)hethe(cid:396) so(cid:373)e des(cid:272)(cid:396)iptio(cid:374)s are closer to truth than others) The(cid:396)e is (cid:374)o (cid:449)a(cid:455) to (cid:858)(cid:272)he(cid:272)k(cid:859) if (cid:449)e a(cid:396)e p(cid:396)og(cid:396)essing or not. Ontological mistakes ontologies of the past are usually mistaken from the perspective of later theories (ontologies: collection of views/entities/relationships that define the world) Definition of progress idea of progress assumes that ontologies implicit in our current theories are more correct than those implicit in the theories of the past. The thing is that ou(cid:396) past (cid:862)(cid:449)(cid:396)o(cid:374)g(cid:863) theo(cid:396)ies is (cid:374)ot (cid:272)o(cid:373)pletel(cid:455) (cid:449)(cid:396)o(cid:374)g.