Philosophical Foundations: Plato, Science, and Epistemology

Philosophical Foundations and Scientific Methodology

Plato's Dual Reality: Forms and the Sensible World

In his view of the world, Plato distinguishes reality into two realms: the sensible world and the world of Ideas (Forms). The world of Forms represents the authentic reality, existing eternally, unchanging, and immaterial. In contrast, the sensible world consists of multiple, changing, and material objects.

The sensible realities are merely copies or imitations of the Forms. The Forms serve as the true standard for knowledge, virtue, and the possibility of achieving genuine understanding.

Scientific Knowledge and Methodological Divisions

Scientific knowledge aims for objectivity and is intrinsically linked to technological development. As Descartes suggested, the goal is to know the world in order to dominate it.

Based on the methods employed, we differentiate two main types of science:

• Formal Sciences: Follow the axiomatic method (e.g., Mathematics, Logic).
• Empirical Sciences: Follow the hypothetico-deductive method (e.g., Human Sciences and Natural Sciences).

Formal sciences are always true (valid) because they are tautological, but they cannot be contrasted with empirical experience.

The Axiomatic Method: Axioms and Theorems

The Axiomatic Method starts from initial premises, called axioms, which are supported and taken as true. By applying a series of rules of inference, the other components of the deductive chain, known as theorems, are derived.

The truth of the theorems can be proven deductively as a result of the axioms. However, the truth of the axioms themselves cannot be proven, as they are the starting assumptions taken as self-evident or first truths upon which the entire system is based.

Popper's Falsificationism and Hume on Causality

Karl Popper argued that scientific theories are not verified, but rather subjected to falsification. We never know when a theory is definitively true because the verification process is endless, but we can know when it is false if a single observation contradicts it.

Most empirical statements concerning experience involve a relationship between cause and effect. However, according to David Hume, the relationship between cause and effect is not a logical necessity. The perceived necessity is psychological, stemming from our habit of predicting what will happen based on past experience.

Philosophy of Science: First and Second Order Tasks

Science (the first-order task) deals directly with the facts of the world and attempts to explain them, operating at the object-level language.

In contrast, the task of the Philosophy of Science (the second-order task) operates at a metalinguistic level. Its purpose is not to explain the facts of the world, but rather to analyze and comment on the statements and theories produced by science.

Therefore, the primary object of study for the Philosophy of Science consists of concepts and ideas, rather than empirical facts.