SCOM1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Jewish Mythology, Harry Collins, Literature Review
28 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Week 3: Lecture 1
Specialised Languages
Buzzwords
Philosophy
Ontology: What things actually are. The point of this is to explain what things are
precisely.
Epistemology: What we think things are.
Assumption: Universal truth
The idea that there are indisputable truths about the world, things happened one
way regardless of our interpretation
Aim of Science
To see clearly what is universally true, to discover how the world works through
scientific research.
To match up epistemology with ontology.
But how do we communicate this reality, these discoveries?
Royal Society 1663
“Take nobody’s word for it”, motto
Importance of experimental demonstrations
No need for speech - merely bear witness
Robert Boyle: Second Hand Witnessing
Perform experiment among colleagues (collective witnessing)
Write meticulously precise, detailed description - even if convoluted
Include failed experiments and malfunctions
Include pictures of actual apparatus
Purpose: as if you were there
Allows colleagues to confirm accuracy
Enables readers to replicate methods
Allows learning without need tor replication
The beginning go scientific journal papers
Scientific Journals
Dozens existed by 1700
>1000 by 1800
Need a language for science writing
Need language describing truth of universe without people present
Universal Language Movement
No redundancy, no ambiguity, no cultural tainting
Each thing or process would have only one, clear universal name
Any language needs:
Vocabulary: Set of available words
Jargon names (things)
Formulae (processes)
Models (systems)
Universal truth
Grammar: Rules of how to make statements
Passive voice
No first person
No emotion
Objectivity
Universal truth and objectivity
Epistemology matches ontology
Language reflects philosophy
Structure of a Scientific Paper
Introduction (Start broad)
Overall goals: why it matters
Literature review
What we know
What we don't know
Review other scientists’s work previously published
Aims
Methods
Must allow second hand witnessing as if the reader was there and so they
can replicate it
Must use vocabulary and grammar of science
Results
Discussion/Conclusions (End broad)
Answer the question
Discuss overall goals
Discuss broader implications
Compare your work to other scientists
Document Summary
The point of this is to explain what things are precisely. The idea that there are indisputable truths about the world, things happened one way regardless of our interpretation. To see clearly what is universally true, to discover how the world works through scienti c research. No need for speech - merely bear witness. Write meticulously precise, detailed description - even if convoluted. Need language describing truth of universe without people present. Each thing or process would have only one, clear universal name. Must allow second hand witnessing as if the reader was there and so they can replicate it. These sections are your interpretations of other scientists" work. Integral for scienti c publishing conventions, and to formal scienti c communication for research ad knowledge creation. Ideal: direct witnessing by a group of expert scientists. A group of learned men" says it happened so it becomes established fact. Second hand witness your work through your description.
