What is Philosophy of Science? | Episode 1611 | Closer To Truth

Can science discover all truths? Or are there truths beyond science? What is science? A process? A way of thinking? How to get at the essence of science, discern how it really works? Featuring interviews with Simon Blackburn, John Hawthorne, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, John Searle, and Daniel Dennett.

Season 16, Episode 11 - #CloserToTruth

Closer To Truth host Robert Lawrence Kuhn takes viewers on an intriguing global journey into cutting-edge labs, magnificent libraries, hidden gardens, and revered sanctuaries in order to discover state-of-the-art ideas and make them real and relevant.

Closer to Truth presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.

#Philosophy #Science Your source for the study of philosophy and college philosophy class materials.

[yasinulupnar]

1. Philosophy clarifies the kinds of questions science asks- enabling answers that are more precise.

2. Philosophy expands the kind of questions science can ask- enlarging the scope of problems that science can solve.

3. Philosophy enhances experimental design and the robustness of evidence- strengthening the scientific method.

4. Philosophy defines the boundaries between science and pseudo science, marking certain fields or claims as un-scientific.

5. Philosophy sets the limits of science, distinguishing science from non-science.

[shinymike]

This is a wonderful series. Well done, Dr. Kuhn! So honest, and a refreshing approach!

[salamaltamimi]

"The value of philosophy is, in fact, to be sought largely in its very uncertainty. The man
who has no tincture of philosophy goes through life imprisoned in the prejudices derived
from common sense, from the habitual beliefs of his age or his nation, and from
convictions which have grown up in his mind without the co-operation or consent of his
deliberate reason"
- Bertrand Russell

[EugeneKhutoryansky]

Unfortunately, what is considered "philosophy" in the Universities is the study of certain specific famous philosophers. If science was taught in the same way, the entire curriculum would be focused on studying the biography of famous scientists, rather than on the understanding and advancing the actual science.

[tschannesh]

What an insightful narration with appropriate examples. Really enjoyed. Thank you so much for adding more value to my interest in sciences.

[soubhikmukherjee]

Physics needs philosophy. That should not be doubted by good open-minded physicists.

[TEE]

For anyone in any field to claim absolute certainty about anything too readily accepts information as fact ..
.to be uncertain is uncomfortable...to be certain is ridiculous
Socrates

[jcesarbtorres]

Thank you Robert Lawrence Kuhn for bringing academia to the world.

[overtonwindowshopper]

So, IS he related to Thomas Kuhn or is that just a crazy coincidence?

[sergeyfox]

I love this. This is exactly how I feel about Philosophy. I love how I see myself in these Philosophical people.

[anastasioskampaktsis]

Fascinating and informative as always! Maybe another function of the philosophy of science could be how we use scientific advances and achievements in an ethical way? Or is this the subject of a different field?

[steveodavis]

Good philosophy allows thinkers from repeating mistaken ideas explored before. Prevents thinkers from previously explored dead ends. That makes history important.

[stephenland]

Historically, wasn't what we now called science previously called natural philosophy?

[RalphBrooker-gniv]

One of my pet projects in philosophy of science, and this might help give a good feel of the discipline, concerns whether the *prediction* of data by a theory T rather than the *accommodation* of data by T offers more justification our belief in the truth of T. There are quite strong pre-analytic intuitions that data prediction offers T an advantage over what might be thought to be the ad hoc accommodation by T (ie. constructing T to fit or accommodate the data). Tutoring those intuitions into an argument *for* prediction; an argument that would offer some rational support for our inductive practices constitutes a research programme in the philosophy of science.

[drchaffee]

I'm surprised I didn't hear the "shut up and calculate" ethos in the discussion. There are many scientists who demarcate their objectives as (only) being able to predict the outcome of experiments. That leaves pretty wide intellectual areas including reality, meaning, and ethics available where careful thinking is valuable. And, of course, scientists are very valuable as philosophers.

[cqxx]

saying philosophy is not necessary is like saying logic is not necessary

[ozymandias]

The most important use that was not mentioned is "what to use science for." More broadly, science can never answer the question "what should we do?" Science without philosophy is about as useless as a hammer absent a task, or a person to wield it. In a time where science is taken as seriously as it's ever been, and many feel a lack of purpose in their difficult lives, philosophy must be recognized as our way of redefining our ends and purposes. Science will help make all of that possible.

[mdbosley]

To me, it seems obvious that assuming science to be external, objective and absolute allows one to conclude that science is external, objective and absolute.

[Eta_Carinae__]

I think Lakatos largely has it right: as it pertains to science, philosophies singular contribution is the generation of research programs, which are developed (or destroyed) in scientific practise.

[thearmchairmystic]

All science is predicated upon epistemological philosophy (i.e. things and how can we know them). Science then being hyper-focused philosophy. Mathematics is merely applied logic which is philosophy. From mathematics arise physics. Physics being applied mathematics. Chemistry merely being applied physics. Biology merely being applied chemistry. The list goes on. I would say any scientist who doesn't understand the importance of philosophy doesn't understand what it means to be truly human. Science needs a check and that check is philosophy (i.e. ethics).