What is an empirical science? It is a science based on observation and experimentation.
The History of Observation a look at the role of observation and experimentation in science.
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Transcript of The History of Observation a look at the role of observation and experimentation in science.
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The History of Observation
a look at the role of observation and experimentation in science
![Page 2: The History of Observation a look at the role of observation and experimentation in science.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022062304/56649eff5503460f94c1578a/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
The GreeksPLATO (428-347 BC)
• reality is abstract “ideal forms”, vs. “shadows” that are physcially observed– role of observation is deductive: leading away from big ideas to see how the details work out in the real world
– knowledge is tested by argument and logic (not experimentation)
ARISTOTLE (384-322 BC)• reality is the observed physical world, ideal forms are only useful constructs– role of observation becomes somewhat inductive: observations leading from observations towards patterns & big ideas
– There is still mostly deduction
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ARISTOTLE
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Scholastics (A.D. 1200’s)
•knowledge is based on accepted authority, not observations / experiments
•The first accepted authorities were scriptures, then also rediscovered Greeks, especially Aristotle
•knowledge is tested by argument and logic (look up the “trivium” of medieval universities!)
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Empiricists
ROGER BACON (c. AD 1214-1292)• backlash against scholastics (some the book facts were wrong!)
• experience is superior to argument• experimental science as a valid route to truth: observation is key
FRANCIS BACON (AD 1561-1626)RENE DESCARTES (1591-1650)
• extreme empiricism: science should be purely inductive• science proceeds as we build up facts into proven theories
• quality obs. are facts unbiased by prior knowledge (idea of “objectivity”)
• “Cogito ergo sum” and interest in reduction of big ideas to mathematical principles
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Constructivists
KARL POPPER (1902-1996)• observations are context-bound & theory-driven: they will always depend on what the observer already knows
• role of observation is to test theories (ideas)
• science proceeds when– theories are proven false and we have to reconstruct what we know (revolutionary science)
– we reaffirm, extend and apply useful theories (normal science)
• theories are created “constructs”, not absolute truth induced from observation
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