PHIL 2003 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Pseudoscience, Ignaz Semmelweis, Parapsychology
27 Nov 2016
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Realism: there is a speci c way that nature is, it is independent of our beliefs. Science is imperial: we can"t know a priori what nature is like. It is possible to get more accurate theories through investigation. Science is progressive: it arrives at more and more accurate theories of nature. Science treats nature as an object of inquiry, but science itself is a phenomenon in the world that we have to observe and develop theories about. Scienti c realism: science is developing more accurate theories of nature on the basis of reliable forms of evidence. Forms of anti-realism: science is not doing what it is assumed to be doing, it should be interpreted in another way. Pseudoscience is imitation science: pseudo sciences don"t use reliable scienti c methods of inquiry. Some philosophers hold that there is not such thing as scienti c method.
