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Difference between philosophy and science
Easay on relating philosophy and science
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Can philosophy and science have always learned from one another over the years? Philosophy tirelessly draws most of its ideologies from scientific discoveries, material for broad generalizations and to scientists it imparts world perception and methodological of pulses of its universal principles. On the other hand, a number of general guiding ideas, which lie at the foundation of the modern science were first enunciated through the perceptive force of physiology. In this paper, we analyze science and philosophy and how these two subjects relate, contradict one another and also how they help solve and interpret life issues.
A key questions asked by most scientist and philosophers is if philosophy can develop itself, without incorporating the
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The intellectual scientist culture clouds the human understanding of science itself. Moreover, it eclipses any alternative ways of knowing, more so philosophical which can yield mush greater certainty as compared to scientific. While philosophy and science at the time do overlap, they two are fundamentally different to approaches to our understanding. As such, philosophers should not be added to the conceptual confusion that subsumes every knowledge back to science. We should rather underscore the fact that most disciplines are ordinarily treated as science background, or at least if not more philosophical than scientific. For instance, mathematics, psychology, economic, and theoretical physics. These disciplines had to be predominately rational conceptual, meaning they are chiefly reliant on the empirical observation of humans. Unlike science, which might be conducted while sitting in an armchair with your eyes closed. To this extent, Plato invented a theory of vision which involves three streams of light, one from the eyes, one from what is being seen, and one from the illuminating source. Plato marveled at mathematics, majorly a science where Plato found certainty, precision and necessity (Plato, 1985). Through science, he found a basis of knowledge that possessed the same certainty and unity as mathematics. Plato’s work on Meno can be seen to prove that a connection between science and philosophy is mutual and is characterized by the ever deepening interaction. In keeping with the belief that philosophy should only be pursued through the attainment of pure knowledge (science), Plato proposes the study of astronomy as an exact mathematical science that is based on assumption that motions were circular and regular. Plato wants to discover the truth behind the appearances and believes absolute truth might not be derived (Plato,
...esent-day philosophers, we are part of a long historical path that started with Greek primal establishment, and is set to continue with future generations until the final establishment is realized. The concept of reductionism also tries to bring different things, different parts, together to form one whole, unified form. We can trace the origins of modern scientific trends back to Greek primal establishment. From the simplistic Socratic approach of ‘Who am I?’, philosophical self-reflection builds on thoughts and concepts of the likes of Galileo and Socrates until it reaches present thinking.
Plato was born in Athens, Greece around 427 B.C. He was always interested in politics, until he witnessed his mentor and teacher, Socrates, death. After learning of the callousness of politics, Plato changed his mind and eventually opened up The Academy, which is considered if not the first, one of the first Universities. Students at the Academy studied many different fields of science, including biological and astronomical. The students also studied many other fields, such as math. Plato developed many views that were mathematical in nature. He expressed these views through his writings. According to Dr. Calkins of Andrew University, "Timaeus is probably the most renowned of Plato's thirty-five dialogues. [In it] Plato expresses that he believes that the heavenly bodies are arranged in perfect geometric form. He said that because the heavens are perfect, the various heavenly bodies move in exact circles." (Calkins 1). Of course that is a much summarized view of what Plato discusses in Timaeus, but still a solid view on Plato's beliefs about cosmology. Cosmology can be loosely defined as everything being explained and in its place or beautiful. The cosmos is beautiful because everything is perfect. Plato understood that when he defined the most perfect geometric design as the circle. In a circle one line is always equidistance from one point. In Plato's universe there are two realms, eternity and time. The factor that creates "time" out of the chaos of "eternity" is the Demiurge. Plato's Demiurge can be defined as an architect creator theological entity. The importance of the Demiurge in this paper is to compare and contrast him with Boethius's God in The Consolation of Philosophy.
Carl G. Hempel was of the most influential proponents of what is now regarded as the classic view of explanation in science. In his work, Philosophy of Natural Science, he created the deductive-nomological model which is the following account of scientific explanation, where an explanation is set out as a formalized argument. This is the principle format for works such as Aristotle’s Physica, Ptolemy’s Almagest, Newton’s Principia and Opticks, Franklin’s Electricity, Lavoisie’s Chemistry, and Lyell’s Geology. Thomas Kuhn calls these achievements Paradigms. Through these paradigms normal science developed. In Kuhn’s book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, he argues that normal science in a way hinders the development of new phenomenon. He says that there must be a change in a paradigm to create a scientific revolution. Throughout this essay I will explain what Hempel’s model consists of and how it relates to Kuhn’s view.
Toulmin, Hull, Campbell, and Popper have defended an "Evolutionary-Analogy" view of scientific evaluative practice. In this view, competing concepts, theories and methods of inquiry engage in a competitive struggle from which the "best adapted" emerge victorious. Whether applications of this analogy contribute to our understanding of science depends on the importance accorded the disanalogies between natural selection theory and scientific inquiry. Michael Ruse has suggested instead an "Evolutionary-Origins" view of scientific evaluative practices in which scientific inquiry is directed by application of epigenetic rules that have become encoded in homo sapiens in the course of evolutionary adaptation. Among these rules are "formulative theories that are internally consistent," "seek severe tests of theories," (Popper) and "achieve a consilience of inductions" (Whewell). As a descriptive theory of science, the "Evolutionary-Origins" view is prima facie inconsistent with evidence that human beings often make decisions that violate the "genetically-hard-wired rules." As a normative-prescriptive philosophy of science, the "Evolutionary-Origins" view is limited by the fact that in biological evolution, adaptation to present pressures may be achieved at the expense of a loss of adaptability (the capacity to respond creatively to future changes in environmental conditions).
Throughout the six meditations on First Philosophy, French philosopher Rene Descartes seeks to find a concrete foundation for the basis of science, one which he states can only include certain and unquestionable beliefs. Anything less concrete, he argues will be exposed to the external world and to opposition by philosophical sceptics.
With the invention of newer technology, scholars were able to make closer observations for how different concepts of the science worked. With these scientific breakthroughs scholars and philosophers, who were mainly Christian, of this time of the Scientific Revolution made a pathway for a more efficient way of life. Natural Philosophy was used in the early 1500s by Enlightenment thinkers. It can be defined as the “study of the nature of the universe, its purpose, and how it functioned” (McKay, 504) All belief about the universe and its structure was based on Aristotle’s hypothesis. He believed the Earth was the center of the universe. Though he worked for Christian belief, natural philosophy in the early 1500s was based off of Aristotle’s model of the universe and his ideas of the planetary motion. This hypothesis was the center of natural philosophy until the Copernican Theory came into discovery. Aristotle believed that the world was flawed and that the planets in the universe represented the heavenly bodies. His theory was that there were ten spheres in the universe: water, air, fire, the moon, the sun, and the five planets. Aristotle declared that beyond the tenth sphere was heaven and this model was proved by Christian theologists to fit into the beliefs of Christians. The Christians
The word Philosophy comes from the Greek words of ‘philo’ meaning love and ‘sophos’ meaning wisdom (Philosophy). It is the pursuit for wisdom, to comprehend human behavior, nature and ultimately the meaning of life. Plato was the student of Socrates, influenced by his work, Plato aged to become a great philosopher himself; establishing his philosophy from that of his teacher. Aristotle was the student of Plato, and like his teacher, grew up to ground his philosophy from that of Plato. Although, both Plato and Aristotle criticized their teacher’s works, they were also influenced by them. Both Plato and Aristotle developed their own modes of knowledge acquisition; Plato’s Platonic Idealism and Aristotle’s Analytic Empiricism. In this paper, my objective is to identify the differences in the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, which lead to the development of two contradictory modes of knowledge acquisition and their influence on succeeding thinkers.
in the ideal order, not necessarily in the things themselves, but rather above them, in a world by itself” (Chaput, C. p.2). For the concept,therefore, Plato substitutes the Idea. He completes the work of Socrates by teaching that the objectively real Ideas are the foundation and justification of scientific knowledge. At the same time he has in mind a problem which claimed much attention from pre-Socratic thinkers, the problem of change. The Platonic theory of Ideas is an attempt to solve this crucial question by a metaphysical compromise. The Eleatics, Plato said, are right in maintaining that reality does not change; for the ideas are immutable. Still, there is, as contended, change in the world of our experience, or, as Plato terms it, the world of phenomena. Plato, then, supposes a world of Ideas apart from the world of our experience, and immeasurably superior to it. He imagines that all human souls dwelt at one time in that higher world. When, therefore, we behold in the shadow-world around us a phenomenon or appearance of anything, the mind is moved to a remembrance of the Idea (of that same phenomenal thing) which it formerly contemplated. In its deligh...
When first looking at the relationship between philosophy and religion, I found it easier to explain the differences rather than the similarities. I began this paper the same way I do others. This generally involves a profound amount of research on the topic at hand. However, in contrast to the other papers I have done, the definitions of philosophy and religion only raised more questions for me. It was fascinating how the explanations differed dramatically from author to author.
The Scientific Revolution was sparked through Nicolaus Copernicusí unique use of mathematics. His methods developed from Greek astr...
Over the course of the years, society has been reformed by new ideas of science. We learn more and more about global warming, outer space, and technology. However, this pattern of gaining knowledge did not pick up significantly until the Scientific Revolution. In the sixteenth and seventeenth century, the Scientific Revolution started, which concerned the fields of astronomy, mechanics, and medicine. These new scientists used math and observations strongly contradicting religious thought at the time, which was dependent on the Aristotelian-Ptolemy theory. However, astronomers like Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton accepted the heliocentric theory. Astronomical findings of the Scientific Revolution disproved the fact that humans were the center of everything, ultimately causing people to question theology’s role in science and sparking the idea that people were capable of reasoning for themselves.
Philosophers are often thought of as hopelessly inept in the “real” world, the theoretical counterparts of the 90-pound weakling on the beach of the material world. Nothing could be more mistaken.
It is noticeable that many subjects that once belonged to philosophy have broken off and become independent disciplines. These subjects include physics, psychology, and chemistry. This, however, has not left philosophy devoid of content. There are numerous other things that have always belonged to philosophy since the beginning of time and are still part of philosophy up to date. These issues are; the possibility of knowledge, the nature of the universe, the standard of justice, the correct use of reason, and the qualities of beauty. These issues have the foundational structures of the five branches of philosophy that are epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, logic, and aesthetics.
Plato also argues for the reality of ideas as the only way to be sure of ethical standards and of objective scientific knowledge. In the Republic and the Phaedo Plato suggests his theory of forms. Ideas or forms are the established archetypes of all phenomenon, and these ideas are the only thing completely real and true; the physical world holds only relative reality for the time being. The forms are simply ...
In Chapter 28 of DeWitt’s book, Worldviews: An Introduction to the History and Philosophy of Science, DeWitt builds on his previous discussion of what the theory of evolution is and the historical developments that were discovered during that time, by introducing the implications that arise with the theory. The two main implications that are discussed in this chapter are implications due to religious beliefs and morality and ethics. However, these two particular implications are not the only ones that arise with the theory of evolution, in fact there are a lot of implications involved with this theory.