2 - PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

Philosophy

• means “love of wisdom.”

• made up of two Greek words, philo, meaning love, and sophos, meaning wisdom.

Why we need Philosophy?

helps students to reflect on key issues and concepts in education.

Philosophy helps students to reflect on key issues and concepts in education usually through such questions as :

• What is being educated?

• What is the good life?

• What is knowledge?

• What is the nature of learning?

• And what is teaching?

PHILOSOPHERS

- Philosophers think about the meaning of things and the interpretation of that meaning.

ETHICAL

● the study of values in human behavior or the study of moral problems

ETHICAL

(1) the rightness and wrongness of actions

(2) the kinds of things which are good or desirable, and

(3) whether actions are blameworthy or praiseworthy.

EPISTEMOLOGICAL

• is the study of knowledge

• focuses on how we come to acquire knowledge and what types of limits there are to our knowledge.

• In other words, how do we know what is true? It is sense experience vs. reason.

METAPHYSICAL

• the study of what is really real

• deals with the so-called first principles of the natural order and “the ultimate generalizations available to the human intellect.”; laws, causation, explanation.

METAPHYSICS

• What is the nature of REALITY?

• One of the key concepts of understanding philosophy

  • Concerned with reality and existence

  • Asks: What is the nature of reality?

METAPHYSICS two categories

• Ontology:

• Cosmology:

cosmology

• Origin and organization of the universe

ontology

• What is the nature of existence

EPISTEMOLOGY

• What is the nature of KNOWLEDGE?

• Raises questions about the nature of knowledge

Logic

is a key dimension to epistemology

Two kinds of logic

• Deductive - general to specific

• Inductive - specific facts to generalization

AXIOLOGY/ETHICS

• What is the nature of VALUES?

• Explores the nature of values

AXIOLOGY/ETHICS

2 categories

• Ethics:

• Aesthetics:

ETHICS

study of human conduct and examines moral values -

Aesthetics:

values beauty, nature, and aesthetic experience (often associated with music, art, literature, dance theater and other fine arts)

MATHEMATICS

theorems & axioms

PHYSICS

measurement

BIOLOGY

tructure & function

THE SCIENCES

• mathematics

• physics

• biology

• psychology

• social science

Science is based on

Facts.

INDUCTIVISM

proposes and rests on a common understanding of the laws of the universe; there are laws of nature, uniformities that govern these laws

INDUCTIVISM

Facts are observable, and that theories should be derived from these facts by observation.

INDUCTIVISM

Facts are observable, and that theories should be derived from these facts by observation.

• Observation using the senses.

• Seeing is believing.

INDUCTIVISM

Observable facts are objective.

HYPOTHETICO-DEDUCTIVISM

• rejects the context of discovery.

• asserts that “facts” are not always observable.

• Rejects the notion that facts are neutral and objective

• Theories are confirmed, not proven, yet every instance that lends support corroborates the theory

HYPOTHETICO-DEDUCTIVISM

asserts that “facts” are not always observable

Facts have come to scientists not by observation but rather by accident, through dreams, visions and preexisting theories.

FALSIFICATIONISM

• Also rejects the context of discovery.

• Confirmation of hypothesis is not enough.

• A body of science must be falsifiable

• The notion of scientific progress for the falsificationist rests on the premise that scientific theories are tentative.

FALSIFICATIONISM

Confirmation of hypothesis is not enough.

No specific number of confirmations will make any hypothesis true.

CONJECTURE AND REFUTATION

Science must continue to progress through an open quest to put existing theories to the test, allowing preconceived notions of “facts,” whatever they may be, up to scientific criticism and refutation.

Thomas Kuhn

famously published The Structures of Scientific Revolutions in 1962, a publication that brought previous theories in the history and philosophy of science into a whole new context

Normal Science versus Revolutionary Science

It is in this period of revolutionary science that theories are checked, previously heald formulations are re-analyzed and possible refutations are generated, for a new paradigm, or paradigm shift to occur.

SCIENTIFIC METHOD

• ask a question (problem)

• define problem statement (research)

• construct the hypothesis (hypothesize)

• test the hypothesis (experiment)

• collect the data (anaylze)

• report the result (interpret)

QUANTITATIVE DATA

• Numeric variables

• How many

• How much

• How often

QUALITATIVE DATA

• Categorical variables

• What

• From where

• Qualities

QUALITATIVE DATA

• Diary accounts, in-depth interviews, documents, focus groups, case study research, and ethnography, open-ended surveys

• provide a deep understanding of how people perceive their social realities, and in consequence, how they act within the social world

QUANTITATIVE DATA

• Laboratory and field experimentations, rating scales, closed survey questions such as “Yes” or “No” which can have numerical categories

• Statistics help turn quantitative data into useful information that are crucial for decision making

• Scientifically objective and rational

Reliability

refers to how consistently a method measures something. If the same result can be consistently achieved by using the same methods under the same circumstances, the measurement is considered reliable.

Test-Retest Reliability (across time

• The consistency of a measure across time.

• Do you get the same results when your repeat the experiment?

Internal Consistency (across items)

• The consistency of the measurement itself.

• Do you get the same results from different parts of an experiment that are designed to measure the same thing?

Interrater Reliability (across researchers)

• The consistency of a measure across raters or observers.

• Do you get the same results when different people conduct the same experiment?

Validity

refers to how accurately a method measures what it is intended to measure. If research has high validity, that means it produces results that correspond to real properties, characteristics, and variations in the physical or social world.

Face Validity

• the extent to which a measurement method appears “on its face” to measure the construct of interest.

• E.g. IQ test

Construct Validity

• used to ensure that the measure is actual measure what it is intended to measure (i.e. the construct), and not other variables.

• E.g. self-esteem questionnaire

Content Validity

• The extent to which the measurement covers all aspects of the concepts being measured.

• E.g. Comprehension test

Criterion Validity

• The extent to which the result of a measure corresponds to other valid measures of the same concept.

• E.g. survey

Discriminant Validity

• the extent to which scores on a measure are not correlated with measures of variables that are conceptually distinct.

• E.g. Self-esteem

Reliability

The extent to which the results can be reproduced when the research is repeated under the same conditions.

Reliability

assessment

By checking the consistency of results across time, across different observers, and across parts of the test itself.

Reliability

relation

A reliable measurement is not always valid: the results might be reproducible, but they’re not necessarily correct.

Validity

The extent to which the results really measure what they are supposed to measure.

Validity

assessment

By checking how well the results correspond to established theories and other measures of the same concept.

Validity

relation

A valid measurement is generally reliable: if a test produces accurate results, they should be reproducible

HOW DO WE PREVENT THE SPREAD OF MISINFORMATION?

Always remember CRAAP!!!

• currency

• relevance

• authority

• accuracy

• purpose

Currency

Is the information current?

Relevance

Is the information important?

Authority

Who is the author/publisher/sponsor of the news?

Accuracy

Is the information supported by evidence? Does the author cite credible sources? Is the information verifiable in other places?

Purpose

What is the purpose of this news?

Check the Sources

When an article cites sources, it’s good to check them out. Sometimes, official-sounding associations are really biased think tanks or represent only a fringe view of a large group of people. If you can’t find sources, read as much about the topic as you can to get a feel for what’s already out there and decide for yourself if the article is accurate or not

Look for Bias

Does the article seem to lean toward a particular point of view? Does it link to sites, files or images that seem to skew left or right? Based articles may not be giving you the whole story.

Check Credentials

Is the author specialized in the field that the article is concerned with? Does s/he currently work in that field? Check LinkedIn or do a quick Google search to see if the author can speak about the subject with authority and accuracy

Check the Dates

Like eggs and milk, information can have an expiration date. In many cases, use the most up-to-date information you can find.

Judge Hard

If what you’re reading seems too good to be true, or too weird, or too reactionary, it probably is.