HPL 112

Just like midterm

Hume’s theory of causation → A philosophical theory proposed by David Hume, which argues that causation cannot be observed directly but is rather inferred from patterns of regularity in our observations.

Realism vs Anti realism → Philosophical positions regarding the nature of reality; realism holds that there exists an objective reality independent of human perception, while anti-realism denies the existence of such an objective reality.

Kuhn’s paradigm → Refers to Thomas Kuhn's concept of a set of beliefs and practices shared by a scientific community, which defines the boundaries of normal science.

Kuhn’s revolution → Occurs when a paradigm shift happens, leading to a fundamental change in scientific thought within a discipline.

Kuhn’s normal science → Refers to the periods of scientific activity where research is conducted within the established framework of a particular paradigm.

Gambler’s paradox → A paradox in probability theory where a series of independent events, each with the same probability of occurring, leads to an outcome that contradicts intuition.

Bayes theorem, Bayesianism

Reductionism → Reductionism is the philosophical position that complex phenomena can be understood by reducing them to simpler components. The layer cake model describes how phenomena at one level of complexity can be explained in terms of simpler phenomena at a lower level.

Emergence → The idea that complex phenomena can arise from interactions among simpler components in ways that cannot be predicted solely by understanding those components individually.

Explanatory reductionism → The idea that explanations of complex phenomena can be reduced to explanations at a more fundamental level.

Ontological reductionism → The belief that complex entities are nothing more than the sum of their parts.

Unification models → Scientific theories or frameworks that aim to explain diverse phenomena under a single set of principles or laws.

Consilience → The principle that evidence from different disciplines or sources can converge to support the same conclusion.

Whewell

Pragmatic model → A model or approach that emphasizes practical consequences and usefulness in determining the validity or truth of beliefs or theories.

Credit Economy → A concept in the sociology of science, referring to the distribution of credit and recognition among scientists for their contributions to scientific knowledge.

Thought experiments → Mental exercises used by scientists and philosophers to explore hypothetical scenarios and test theories

Maxwell’s demon → A thought experiment proposed by James Clerk Maxwell to challenge the second law of thermodynamics.

Newton’s bucket → A thought experiment proposed by Isaac Newton to explore the concept of absolute rotation.

Galileo’s falling bodies → A thought experiment proposed by Galileo Galilei to study the motion of falling objects.

EPR Paradox → A thought experiment in quantum mechanics proposed by Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen, intended to highlight what they perceived as the incompleteness of quantum mechanics.

Relativism and perspectivism → Philosophical positions that emphasize the dependence of knowledge on the perspective or context from which it is derived.

General theory of relativity → Albert Einstein's theory describing gravity as the curvature of spacetime caused by mass and energy.

Isomorphism → 

Deductive Nomological Explanation → A type of scientific explanation that deduces the occurrence of an event from general laws and initial conditions.

Counterfactual reasoning → Reasoning about what could have happened under different circumstances, often used in causal inference.

Double blind clinical trial → A type of experiment in which neither the participants nor the researchers are aware of who is receiving the treatment and who is receiving the placebo, to minimize bias.

Duhem’s problem → The problem of underdetermination in scientific theories, named after Pierre Duhem, which states that evidence alone is typically insufficient to uniquely determine the truth of a scientific theory.

Matthew Effect → Well known names are given a disproportionate amount of credit

Harking → Hypothesizing After the Results are Known, a practice in which researchers generate hypotheses after analyzing the data, potentially leading to spurious findings.

P-hacking → The misuse of statistical techniques to manipulate data or analysis procedures to achieve statistically significant results.

Popper’s falsificationism → Demarcation problem → A scientific theory is one that can be proven false 

Negative controls vs positive control → Experimental controls used in scientific experiments; negative controls are designed to produce no effect, while positive controls are designed to produce a known effect.

Functionalism → A theory in philosophy of mind that holds that mental states should be understood in terms of their functional roles or effects.

Models → Idealizations vs Approximations

Conserved quantity theory →  A theory in physics that certain quantities, such as energy or momentum, remain constant in isolated systems over time.

Pessimistic Meta-induction → The idea that all previous theories have been proven wrong, so there is a strong likelihood that our current theories are also wrong

Deductive reasoning → A form of reasoning where conclusions logically follow from given premises.

Inductive reasoning → A form of reasoning where general principles are inferred from specific observations or instances.

Abductive reasoning → A form of reasoning that involves making educated guesses or hypotheses to explain observations or phenomena.