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What is philosophy of science |
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When the definition of the term "philosophy" is clear, the definition of the term "philosophy of science" is not too far away. |
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Definition of the term philosophy of science |
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According to vetenskapsteori.se, the term "philosophy of science" can be defined as:
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Philosophy of science implies discussion about science without references to empirical foundations |
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Details of the definition
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Philosophy implies discussion without references to empirical foundations. If we accept that definition, philosophy of science hence discusses contents of the term "science", without connecting the discussion to our experienced properties of the term.
Within philosophy of science, the empirical foundations are in fact quite comprehensive.
Studies of how scientific work was performed earlier is called History of science.
How scientific work is performed today is most often described in scientific publications. For instance within chemistry, more than one million scientific articles are published annually. Most of these articles contain explanations to the purpose of the article and
its background.
In spite of that the concept of science therefore actually is well known, it is
frequently
discussed within Swedish non-natural science university faculties, often erroneously confused with epistemology. |
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Points of view in philosophy of science |
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As in all philosophy, philosophy of science suffers from lack of overviews and references to earlier publications (with possible exception to the antique Greek philosophers). The works are often restricted by different points of view, e.g. opinions published by Karl Popper or Alan Chalmers. |
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Other definition of the term "philosophy of science" |
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Branch of philosophy that attempts to elucidate the nature of scientific inquiry
• observational procedures, patterns of argument, methods of representation and calculation, metaphysical presuppositions.
• and evaluate the grounds
of their validity from the points of view of epistemology, formal logic,
scientific method, and metaphysics. |
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(The definition appears to have been removed, as noted January 2013) |
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Philosophy of science - Background |
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In the first number of the journal "Philosophy of Science",
the
reasons behind foundations of the journal were described.
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PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE is the
organized
expression of a growing
intent
among
philosophers
and scientists to
clarify,
perhaps unify, the programs,
methods and results of the disciplines
of philosophy and of science.
The examination of fundamental concepts
and presuppositions in the light
of
the
positive results of science, systematic
doubt of the positive results, and
a
thorough-going analysis and
critique
of logic and of language, are typical
projects for this joint effort.
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Malisoff (1934) - Philosophy of Science 1, p.1 |
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