Philosophy of Science

Learning Objectives

We will closely examine the perspectives of various thinkers on the question of what distinguishes science from non-science or pseudoscience, known as the demarcation problem. This will include a look on the historical ideas of philosophy of science (empiricism & positivism), and a detailed exploration of modern philosophers of science such as Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn (refer to the picture above).

Required Reading
  • Bem & Looren de Jong (2013), Chapter 3: Phil. of Science (1): Logical Positivism and its Failure
  • Piekkola (2017), Chapter 7.1 & 7.2: Philosophy of Science \(^\textbf{*}\)

\(^\textbf{*}\) Only the two short subchapters on empiricism and positivism are relevant for us. You can use the ebook from the library or these scans of the printed book.

Tutorial Meeting

Timetable
Duration Activity
15 min. Practice quiz on Canvas
80 min. In-depth questions & discussion in sub-groups
15 min. Break
10 min. Answers practice quiz
30 min. Plenary post-discussions and reflections
15 min. Closing: One-minute paper

Question 1

Define the terms verifiability and falsifiability?

Question 2

Not every statements is verifiable and or refutable/falsifiable. Please indicate which statements are falsifiable and verifiable and, importantly, why do you think so?

Statement verifiable falsifiable
1 Ghosts exist. \(\bigcirc\) \(\bigcirc\)
2 Military officers are more socially embedded in the army than soldiers. \(\bigcirc\) \(\bigcirc\)
3 The immediate family is a social group. \(\bigcirc\) \(\bigcirc\)
4 The birth rate in the Netherlands will first drop, and then increase again. \(\bigcirc\) \(\bigcirc\)
5 Scorpios are often unable to work with their colleagues, and even have a tendency to be rude (astrology). \(\bigcirc\) \(\bigcirc\)
6 The id is the most primitive part of our psyche, being led by the principle of lust (Freud). \(\bigcirc\) \(\bigcirc\)
7 Our current fear of spiders is an adaptation that had an evolutionary advantage for our ancestors to survive (evolutionary psychology). \(\bigcirc\) \(\bigcirc\)

Question 3

Following logical positivism, how can you prove the correctness of a statement/theory?

Question 4

What is the positivists’ standard view of science?

Question 5

One of the most fundamental critique against the logical positivism is that there are no theory-neutral observations. Explain what that means and give an example.

Question 6

Beside that problem of theory-neutral observations, Popper had a very principle critique critique of positivism? Explain this critique.

Question 7

Look at these two statements of Karl Popper.

  • “A theory that explains everything is explains nothing.”
  • “The more a theory forbids, the more it says about the world.””

To which concepts in his philosophy that that refer to?

Question 8

Explain the stages in Thomas Kuhn’s Phase model of science.

Question 9

Explain the term incommensurable and how does it play a role in the philosophy of Thomas Kuhn?

Discussion 1

To what extent do you think are Kuhn’s concepts of ‘paradigms’ and ‘incommensurability’ relevant for psychology? How might this affect communication and progress between different psychological sub-disciplines or schools of thought (e.g., behaviourism vs. cognitivism, or CBT vs. psychodynamic approaches)?

Discussion 2

Imagine two psychologists: one is strongly driven by Popper’s idea of falsification, the other beliefs in the importance of paradigms as described Kuhn.

What you think: how might their approaches to designing a new research project into a complex phenomenon like ‘burnout’ or ‘creativity’ differ? What would be the strengths and weaknesses of each approach in practice to your opinion?

Study Checklist

  • Pioneers in the Philosophy of Science (from Piekkola subchapters)
    • Empiricists: Lock & Hume
    • Positivism: Comte & Mach, Vienna Circle
  • Demarcation Problem
  • Logical Positivism
    • The Standard View
    • Assumptions of Positivism (see lecture 3)
    • Problems of Positivism
    • especially (not independent) Observations
  • Karl Popper
    • Critique of Positivism
    • Falsificationism
    • critical vs. dogmatic Thinking
  • Thomas Kuhn
    • paradigms
    • incommensurability
    • Scientific revolution
    • Phase model of scientific development (see lecture 3)
  • Lakatos
    • Competition between research programmes
    • Empirical content