HPS100H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Fallibilism, Empirical Evidence
10 Oct 2017
School
Course
Professor
Document Summary
The history of science teaches us that theories change and what was accepted yesterday may not be accepted today. The question is there anything in this mosaic which is unchangeable, can there be absolute knowledge. Case 1: mathematics (analytic proposition)- true by definition, cannot contradict the results of experiments or observation. How do we know that 1+2=3, how do we justify, what makes this proposition true. People did not put 2 apples together and then add another and realize that they are (cid:1007). It"s based on definition. (cid:1006)+(cid:1005)=(cid:1007) is a definition. Case 2: swans (synthetic proposition)- having truth or falsity determinable by recourse to experience. The case all swans are white cannot be based on definition and it must be based on experience- our observations (sit there and look) and experiments (artificial setup) . The theory that all swans our white is based on our experience of finding 3 different individual swans that were white.
