Earth Sciences 2240F/G Lecture 2: Chapter 1 Philosophy
20 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
In europe (where most of the philosophy of science was developed) the pursuit of scientific investigation was by no means always a well-coordinated, disciplined activity. What we now call science" hadn"t really been sorted out until rather late in the 19th century, and there were many competing methods, theories, and systems in almost all areas until then. So, what i"m trying to convey is that there was no consensus on how scientific theories should be evaluated, and no such thing as correct" scientific procedure (i. e. observations form hypothesis test hypothesis modify hypothesis). The central purpose of greek and medieval philosophy about the natural world was to link whatever one speculated about with the divine structure of the universe which put all scientific consideration under the scrutiny and censorship of religion. Of course, the more independent thinkers" soon reacted against this traditional preoccupation with final outcome.
