Science and It's Critics

PL401 - Science and it's critics Essays

1. A. Discuss in detail the basic philosophy of logical positivism. 

Logistical positivism is also commonly referred to as logical empiricism and neo-positivism. It is a school of philosophy that combines empiricism – the idea that observational evidence is indispensable for knowledge of the world – with a version of rationalism incorporating mathematical and logico-linguistic constructs and deductions in epistemology (1). Samir Okasha and his book, Philosophy of Science, describe logical positivism as being the dominant philosophical movement in the English speaking world post-wear period. The original logical positivists met in the 1920's and 1930's in Vienna under the leadership of Moritz Schlick. Most of these positivists emigrated to the United States in efforts to flee from the Nazi's. Through the middle of the 1960s,these positivists had a strong influence on academic philosophy. One of their aim's was to reform philosophy and make it more scientific. Their hope was that it would allow more advances in philosophy. They were drawn to apparent objectivity. They believed that disputes against scientific theories could be solved in an objective way by comparing theories with 'neutral' observational facts. Positivists were adamant about the fact that this existed, however, they could not agree amongst themselves how the set of neutral facts should be characterized. (Okasha, Philosophy of Science, pgs. 78, 79)

B. Explain in detail the “context of discovery” and the “context of justification.”

The context of discovery is the actual historical process in which a scientist arrived at their theory. the context of justification is where a scientist attempts to justify his/her theory once they have built it. Positivists believe that the context of discovery is subjective and was not governed by precise rules, while the context of justification was an objective matter of logic. Because of their thoughts on the...