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Questions and Answers
What is the primary basis of knowledge in rationalism?
What is the primary basis of knowledge in rationalism?
Which philosophy combines rationalism and empiricism?
Which philosophy combines rationalism and empiricism?
What is the primary characteristic of a scientific hypothesis?
What is the primary characteristic of a scientific hypothesis?
What is the purpose of empiricism in science?
What is the purpose of empiricism in science?
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What is a scientific fact?
What is a scientific fact?
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What is the primary goal of the scientific method?
What is the primary goal of the scientific method?
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What is the primary difference between a scientific law and a scientific theory?
What is the primary difference between a scientific law and a scientific theory?
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What is the primary purpose of a null hypothesis in scientific research?
What is the primary purpose of a null hypothesis in scientific research?
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What is the primary difference between experimental science and historical science?
What is the primary difference between experimental science and historical science?
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What is the primary function of a scientific theory?
What is the primary function of a scientific theory?
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What is the primary assumption made in modern science regarding the understanding of the universe?
What is the primary assumption made in modern science regarding the understanding of the universe?
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What is the primary role of faith in science?
What is the primary role of faith in science?
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Study Notes
What is Science?
- Science is based on observation and reason, combining rationalism and empiricism.
- It observes the world and describes general rules that govern it.
- Empiricism guides scientists in understanding flaws in their reasoning.
Epistemology and Related Terms
- Epistemology: coming to knowledge of things in different ways.
- Scholasticism: encompasses religion, faith, and belief in authoritative figures or scripture as the source of knowledge.
- Rationalism: theory that reason provides the primary basis for knowledge, ability to reason out truth.
- Empiricism: experience is the sole source of knowledge in the world, worldview is a factor of sense perception.
Scientific Method and Components
- Ask questions, make a hypothesis, make a prediction using hypothesis, test the prediction, and analyze the results.
- Scientific Fact: observations made in nature.
- Hypothesis: gives rise to a prediction, must be testable/falsifiable and observable.
- Scientific Law: statement that does not have an explanation.
- Scientific Theory: incorporates observation, laws, and accepted hypothesis into a statement, has an explanation.
Hypothesis and Falsifiability
- A legitimate workable hypothesis must be testable or falsifiable.
- Test null hypothesis and not alternative or research hypothesis.
- Avoid Type 1 error (false positive) and Type 2 error.
Scholasticism, Rationalism, and Empiricism
- Scholasticism: faith and belief in authoritative figures or scripture as the source of knowledge.
- Rationalism: reason provides the primary basis for knowledge.
- Empiricism: experience is the sole source of knowledge in the world.
- Science combines rationalism and empiricism.
Experimental and Historical Science
- Experimental science: perform experiments in a lab or controlled environment.
- Historical science: deals with events that happened in the past, uses evidence available today to learn about them.
Theories and Their Functions
- Theories help us understand patterns in nature, predict what might happen in new situations, and lead to new discoveries.
- Theories are important in science.
Assumptions in Modern Science
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- Man can understand the universe.
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- Theories should be quantitative and testable.
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- Simple Laws are better (Occam's Razor).
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- Uniformitarianism – laws of nature are the same everywhere.
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- Mechanism (naturalism)
Faith in Science
- Faith is not applied in science in the same way as religious faith.
- Statistical significance (p ≤ 0.5) is used to determine the validity of scientific findings.
Historical Court Cases
- Butler Act: unlawful to teach any theory that denies the story of the divine creation of man.
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Description
Quiz about the definition of science, covering epistemology, scholasticism, racialism, and empiricism from the reading 'How Scientist Discover Truths About Nature' and the lecture.
