Philosophy of Science: A Comprehensive Overview

The Philosophy of Science

1. Historical Conceptions of Science

Up until the Middle Ages, Aristotelian science was predominant. It stated that:

• There is no difference between science and philosophy
• Science involves finding explanations for things that we admire
• Science is the knowledge of essences
• It endeavors to find out the primary causes of all that is real

Modern science, which began with Copernicus and was furthered by Galileo, uses experimentation as a means for proof.

There are three fundamental consequences of understanding science in this way:

• A distinction is made between the experimental sciences and rational knowledge
• Science is only concerned with quantifiable properties
• Teleological explanations are rejected

2. Science: Elements and Classification

Scientific concepts are abstract entities that allow us to identify, differentiate, and compare, with a certain amount of accuracy, the objects that make up reality and that are studied by a specific science.

There are three types of scientific concepts:

• Classificatory concepts order and separate different kinds of entities depending on their basic properties.
• Comparative concepts classify and order things into separate groups.
• Metric concepts are exclusive to science. They express specific properties called quantities.

A scientific law is a way of expressing the regular, constant, and invariable relationship we observe between two phenomena or between their properties.

They have three basic characteristics:

• Universality: All natural beings and phenomena referred to by the law, without exception, are subject to it.
• Necessity: Laws not only tell us what things are like but also that they cannot be any other way.
• Predictive capacity: Laws can predict events that will occur in the future.

A scientific theory is a coherent body of knowledge consisting of a set of laws relating to a wide range of observable phenomena.

2.1 The Classification of Sciences

Formal sciences are not concerned with facts.

Experimental sciences focus on observable occurrences and the relationships we can discover between them.

The Criteria of Demarcation

Verificationism states that only theories that are verified through experiments can be considered scientific. The verification of a scientific law or theory consists of proving that what is established is true in all cases under consideration.

Falsificationism is based on the idea that, although we cannot verify or prove scientific laws or theories indisputably, it is possible to prove that they are conclusively false through experience.