29 ideas
3859 | We do not wish merely to predict, we also want to explain [Newton-Smith] |
3870 | The real problem of science is how to choose between possible explanations [Newton-Smith] |
3853 | For science to be rational, we must explain scientific change rationally [Newton-Smith] |
3855 | Critics attack positivist division between theory and observation [Newton-Smith] |
3854 | Positivists hold that theoretical terms change, but observation terms don't [Newton-Smith] |
3869 | More truthful theories have greater predictive power [Newton-Smith] |
3861 | Theories generate infinite truths and falsehoods, so they cannot be used to assess probability [Newton-Smith] |
22180 | Multiple realisability is said to make reduction impossible [Okasha] |
3867 | De re necessity arises from the way the world is [Newton-Smith] |
3872 | We must assess the truth of beliefs in identifying them [Newton-Smith] |
3857 | Defeat relativism by emphasising truth and reference, not meaning [Newton-Smith] |
3858 | A full understanding of 'yellow' involves some theory [Newton-Smith] |
22177 | Randomised Control Trials have a treatment and a control group, chosen at random [Okasha] |
22172 | Not all sciences are experimental; astronomy relies on careful observation [Okasha] |
3862 | All theories contain anomalies, and so are falsified! [Newton-Smith] |
3863 | The anomaly of Uranus didn't destroy Newton's mechanics - it led to Neptune's discovery [Newton-Smith] |
3864 | Anomalies are judged against rival theories, and support for the current theory [Newton-Smith] |
22174 | The discoverers of Neptune didn't change their theory because of an anomaly [Okasha] |
22175 | Science mostly aims at confirming theories, rather than falsifying them [Okasha] |
3865 | Why should it matter whether or not a theory is scientific? [Newton-Smith] |
22182 | Theories with unobservables are underdetermined by the evidence [Okasha] |
3866 | If theories are really incommensurable, we could believe them all [Newton-Smith] |
22185 | Two things can't be incompatible if they are incommensurable [Okasha] |
22176 | Induction is inferences from examined to unexamined instances of a given kind [Okasha] |
22178 | If the rules only concern changes of belief, and not the starting point, absurd views can look ratiional [Okasha] |
20653 | Six reduction levels: groups, lives, cells, molecules, atoms, particles [Putnam/Oppenheim, by Watson] |
3871 | Explaining an action is showing that it is rational [Newton-Smith] |
22173 | Galileo refuted the Aristotelian theory that heavier objects fall faster [Okasha] |
17366 | Virtually all modern views of speciation rest on relational rather than intrinsic features [Okasha] |