ESS104H1 Lecture 1: ESS104 lectures 1-4
Why Study Controversies
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
4:13 PM
Notes by 2 science philosophers:
!
Karl popper (1902-1994)
• Most useful hypothesis = one we try to falsify
• Imaginitive preconception, bias and creativity are important
Compare T.C Chamberlin and Popper
!
Thomas Kuhn (1922-1995)
• Scientific revolution = established theory failing because of new observations
• Paradigm shifts
• Non cumulative development episodes
!
Classifiying Scientists:
!Baconian = amateur
• francis bacon philosopher
• explore universe find what needs to be explained
• experiment freely collect facts , accumulation of facts would expalin
Caresian = professional
• Rene descartes philospher
• Not all experimentation should be theory
• Pure reason
• Mathematics and excisiting knowledge
• Experiments not that important should just verify that logic is correct
!
Inductive reasoning
• Initial observations allows you to recognize patterns
• Charles darwin and observations = finchs
Deductive reasoning
• Standard scientific method where a resercher starts with a wide theory and
generetes a testable hypothesis
• Designs experiment to observe results
• JJ Thompson cathode ray experiment
!
Theorists: Einstein, Teller, Feynman
Experimenters: Rutherford, Weber
!
• Sceince has become more remote and abstract
• So highly specialized it fails to communicate with everyone
• This makes collaboration between theoretical and experimenters tough
!
Thought process in modern scince: go back to slide
!
Sample Controversy:! Blackett Vs. Bullard
!
Blackett: magnetic field at earth because of rotation, tested theory in lab, consequence found
that field becomes weaker as one moves deeper into the earth, magtometer wasn’t strong
enough theory not proved or disproven
!
Bullard: Earths magnetic filed exists because of liquid core , modeled using best computers,
consequence found field should become stronger as we go deeper
!
• Printing press very important to scientific revolution
• 14th-17th century= renesaince in europ, hummanist thinking lead to more
scientifc thinking
• Re awakaned interets in humans and our world rather than theology
• Explorers and colonization- christopher colombus- desire to learn
!The Ancients
Monday, September 19, 2016
5:55 PM
Ancient astronomy (heavily mixed with astrology)
• In the East – ‘Baconian’
• In the West – ‘Cartesian’
• Ptolemy [90 AD ‐ 168 AD] ‐ elaborate theoretical
universe geocentric (earth‐centric), clockwork
machinery of cycles and epicycles determining
how heavenly bodies should move
• Neither could move forward in the absence of the
other!
!
The Roman Republic & Empire
• From 8th Century BC
• Roman Empire ‐ autocratic form of
government and large territorial holdings
around the Mediterranean in Europe, Africa,
and Asia
• Julius Caesar was appointed as perpetual
dictator of the Roman Empire (44 BC)
• Vast extent, long endurance; profound and
lasting influence on the development of
language, religion, architecture, philosophy,
law, and forms of government
!
Ancient Philosophers
!
Socrates (469 BC – 399 BC)
• Classical Greek Athenian
philosopher.
• Credited as one of the
founders of Western
philosophy
• Has become renowned for
his contribution to the field
of ethics
• Teacher of Plato
!
!Plato (424 BC – 348 BC)
• Classical Greek philosopher,
mathematician
• Founder of the Academy in
Athens, the first institution
of higher learning in the
Western world
• Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to
lay the foundations of
Western philosophy and
science
!
!384 BC ‐ 322 BC
Aristotle (Greek)
• Aristotelian view ‐ the universe is a sphere of unchanging peace and harmony; the Earth is
perishable and violent
but the heavenly
bodies are perfect and
quiescent
!
Aristotle’s ideas
• Primum mobile (sphere of fixed stars) moves in
opposite direction to planets and its revolution
takes 24 hours (diurnal revolution)
– Saturn took the longest to revolve around the Earth
due to friction from the star sphere
– Earth was at the centre of the Universe because it
was heavy
– The region above the moon was eternal and
unchanging
• Events such as comets & meteors occurred in either the air
sphere or the fiery sphere
!
Art: ‘The School Of Athens’ by Raphael
• Aristotle gestures to the earth, representing his belief in knowledge through empirical
observation and experience, while holding a copy of his Nicomachean Ethics in his
hand.
• Plato holds his Timaeus and gestures to the heavens, representing his belief in The Forms
!
The Ancients
• 90 AD ‐ 168 AD Claudius Ptolemaeus (aka ‘Ptolemy’)
• (Greek‐Roman citizen of Egypt, mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, poet).!
• Geocentric universe
• His work held sway until the 15th century
!
The Decline of the Roman Empire
• The decline occurred over a period of four
Document Summary
Most useful hypothesis = one we try to falsify. Scienti c revolution = established theory failing because of new observations. Baconian = amateur francis bacon philosopher explore universe nd what needs to be explained experiment freely collect facts , accumulation of facts would expalin. Experiments not that important should just verify that logic is correct. Standard scienti c method where a resercher starts with a wide theory and generetes a testable hypothesis. So highly specialized it fails to communicate with everyone. This makes collaboration between theoretical and experimenters tough. Thought process in modern scince: go back to slide. Blackett: magnetic eld at earth because of rotation, tested theory in lab, consequence found that eld becomes weaker as one moves deeper into the earth, magtometer wasn"t strong enough theory not proved or disproven. Bullard: earths magnetic led exists because of liquid core , modeled using best computers, consequence found eld should become stronger as we go deeper.
