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The Philosophy of Science is a branch of philosophy that attempts to examine the thinking behind scientific research, the formulation of scientific theories, the methods used to validate those theories, and their implications for humanity in terms of both the material concerns of our every day lives and our existence as spiritual beings.
Science and philosophy can be seen as complimentary subjects in the sense that science attempts to rationalise the world around us while philosophy attempts to constructively challenge those rationalisations. Indeed, it could be argued that the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BCE) was the founding father of both philosophy and science.
The Greek philosophers essentially attempted to explain the world around them in terms of natural, as opposed to supernatural causes, and it was not until the 19th century, following the so-called "scientific revolution" that began in the 16th century and challenged both ancient theories and religious dogma, that the term "science" was applied to the field of study that explored the nature of life, the universe and everything (apologies to Douglas Adams).
The kind of questions the philosophy of science attempts to answer include trying to establish the boundary that separates science from non-science, determining what the burden of proof for scientific theories should be, and asking why we are pursuing such theories in the first place, i.e. whether in order to advance technologically as a race, to prove or disprove popular belief systems, or simply to pursue knowledge for its own sake.
This series of articles was inspired by my recent re-discovery of a collection of - let's call them essays - written by this author between April and June of 2015 in response to assignments set for the course "Introduction to the Philosophy of Science", which was one of the courses offered by the University of Hamburg as part of its Summer Semester curriculum, and which started on April 13th, 2015.
I was able to attend the course lectures by virtue of my membership of the Verein zur Förderung des Kontaktstudiums für ältere Erwachsene der Universität Hamburg e.V., which translates as "Association for the Promotion of Continuing Education for Older Adults at the University of Hamburg" (the e.V. stands for eingetragener Verein, which translates to "registered association").
The course, which was described as a "foundational English-language module", appealed to me for two reasons. First of all, it was delivered in English. If not, I would have struggled because my German at the time was still somewhat limited. More importantly, from an educational point of view, it gave me a chance to gain some philosophical insights into a subject in which I have always been interested, namely science.
The lecturer on the course was Professor of Philosophy Nathan Wildman who, at the time of writing, is an associate professor for the Department of Philosophy at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. I found the lectures interesting, informative, and though-provoking, especially as, having retired from a career in vocational education and training, and coming from a software engineering background, I had rarely if ever considered the philosophical aspects of either science or technological developments.
The course introduced students to the work of a diverse range of philosophers such as Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, Paul Feyerabend, Bas van Fraassen and many more. The course description on the University of Hamburg website reads as follows:
"Philosophy of science deals with philosophical and foundational problems that arise within science. Roughly speaking, it can be divided into two major strands: general philosophy of science and the philosophies of the individual sciences. General philosophy of science strives to understand science as a cognitive activity that is uniquely capable of yielding justified beliefs about the world; the philosophy of the individual sciences focuses on more specialized issues within e.g. physics, biology, psychology, economics, etc. Some of the questions raised by general philosophy of science include:
Meanwhile, some of the questions raised by philosophers of the individual sciences concern the basic conceptual structure of particular sciences (e.g., the problem of measurement in quantum mechanics, the ontology of space and time, the concepts of biological function and adaptation, the nature of psychological and sociological explanation, and the status of economic models); others relate to the commitments that flow from the individual sciences (What is the right interpretation of quantum mechanics? Are there laws in the special sciences? What is the status of causal mechanisms?)
In this course, we will discuss many of these questions in the light of examples from contemporary science. During the course of discussing these problems, we will study many of the major positions concerning the nature of science and of scientific knowledge.
As this is an introductory level course, students are not required to have any prior philosophical or scientific knowledge, though a working knowledge of logical notions will be helpful. In addition to regular participation in the seminar meeting, students will be required to answer weekly question sheets on the reading, and pass a written exam at the end of term. For more information about the course, including a preliminary course syllabus, see the course webpage."
I do not pretend to be a philosopher, nor have I made an in-depth study of the vast body of literature dedicated to the philosophy of science. In fact, I have probably only scratched the surface, even in terms of the literature that deals solely with the area in which I am primarily interested, namely the physical sciences. I therefore present the articles that follow as my own personal take on the subject, in the hope that it may prove to be of some interest, to visitors to this website.