HIST-1107EL Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Paul Feyerabend, Scientific Method, Logical Positivism
15 Dec 2020
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First engaged in the history of science then the philosophy of science. Agreed w/ popper about the priority of scientific theory over observation. Stressed that all observations and theoretical concepts were dependent on the language of the adopted theory. Emphasized the pressures present in the science community to keep individual scientists w/i the confines of the prevailing research tradition. On the relativity of paradigms and the science wars. Paradigms are ever-changing: means that current scientific knowledge can"t be considered as the absolute truth. The unbearable lightness of science: kuhn was unclear about whether scientific revolution meant progress or simply a paradigm shift: this rekindled the controversy between realism and idealism. According to postmodernists scientific knowledge was a social construct by the scientific community, affected by their language and culture. Kant and reid struggled to refute idealism; one of the arguments w/ the most impact: the constraints the physical world imposes on human actions (reid called this common sense).
