HPS250H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Larry Laudan, Scientific Method
7 Apr 2018
School
Course
Professor
Lecture 10: Larry Laudan
After the Method: Options
Worrall's strategy = resume the search for the correct explication of the scientific method
Kuhn = understand the mechanism of changes in theories and methods alike
Laudan = still searching for the method of science
Larry Laudan:
• Acknowledges all methods and values are transient, and that they change in a lawful and
rational fashion
• Rejects the idea of progress towards truth
• Saves the idea of rationality, but not progress
No-miracles argument: since our theories become increasingly accurate and precise in their predictions,
this can only indicate that we gradually uncover the inner structure of the world
Pessimistic Meta-Induction Argument:
• Progress from Aristotelian elements to Phlogistic chemical system to contemporary chemistry
• How can we claim our accepted ontology moves towards the truth if we have discredited past
ontologies?
• Progress assumes that ontologies implicit in our current theories are more correct that those
implicit in the theories of the past
• Different descriptions of the process can increase the overall predictive power, but they do not
take us closer to the truth
Laudan: while science is clearly getting better in solving more and more problems, it cannot be said to
progress towards truth
Ontological "Mistakes": the ontologies of the past theories are usually considered mistaken from the
perspective of later theories
- Progress: a process of acquiring increasingly correct description of the world including its
ontology)
= No-Progress Thesis: we can't know whether science progresses towards truth (ex. Whether
some descriptions are closer to truth than others
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Worrall"s strategy = resume the search for the correct explication of the scientific method. Kuhn = understand the mechanism of changes in theories and methods alike. Laudan = still searching for the method of science. Larry laudan: acknowledges all methods and values are transient, and that they change in a lawful and rational fashion, rejects the idea of progress towards truth, saves the idea of rationality, but not progress. No-miracles argument: since our theories become increasingly accurate and precise in their predictions, this can only indicate that we gradually uncover the inner structure of the world. Laudan: while science is clearly getting better in solving more and more problems, it cannot be said to progress towards truth. Ontological mistakes: the ontologies of the past theories are usually considered mistaken from the perspective of later theories. Progress: a process of acquiring increasingly correct description of the world including its ontology)
