PHIL 2003 Study Guide - Final Guide: Postpartum Infections, Ignaz Semmelweis, Pseudoscience
16 Dec 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
De nition: is an imitation science that doesn"t use reliable scienti c methods of inquiry. Determines the most plausible (not just possible) The pattern of inference: phenomenon p exists > e is the most. Part: ii plausible explanation for the existence of p = it is likely that e is true. : there"s water on my window > it probably rained but i could say someone must have thrown water on my window. Internal consistency: the theory/explanation is not contradicting. External consistency: the theory is consistent with all the facts that have to be explained. It must be possible to determine whether the explanation is true or false. Needs to be possible in principle not practice (ex. physics) Fruitful theories predict new phenomena or leads to other explanations of the hypothesis (which are found empirically true) The more phenomena a theory explains the more plausible it is. A theory should agree with con rmed background beliefs and theories.
