HisPhil Lec 3 - Good/Bad Science & Philosophical Foundations

Flashcards related to Good/Bad Science & Philosophical Foundations lecture.

Demarcation

The action of fixing the boundary or limits of something, distinguishing between scientific and unscientific.

Clever Hans

A counting horse that stomped his answer, used to explain implications in science.

Subliminal presentation/perception

Stimulus registered and processed without the subject’s awareness.

Popper Swans/Falsifiability

A statement, hypothesis, or theory needs to be open to being tested and potentially proven false.

Molyneux’s Problem or Question

Asked whether a man born blind, able to distinguish a globe and cube by touch, could do so by sight if enabled to see.

Tabula rasa

Latin for ‘Blank Slate’; the idea that we are born without innate knowledge, ideas, or concepts.

Nativist’s approach

Believes that concepts, mental capacities, and mental structures are innate rather than acquired by learning.

Empiricist approach

The idea that all learning comes only from experience and observations.

Rationalism

Thinking and reasoning; reason rather than experience is the foundation of certainty in knowledge.