Understanding Scientific Knowledge and Critical Thinking
Normal Science: Paradigms approved by the scientific community provide a basis for further development.
Abnormal Science: Numerous anomalies in theories lead to paradigm shifts and uncertainty.
Critical Knowledge
A key characteristic of critical knowledge is its coherence. It comprises a structured set of proposals, ideas, and conclusions that form a body of doctrine. Common knowledge, conversely, is unsystematic. The order of knowledge acquisition is irrelevant, and newer ideas may contradict earlier ones.
Language vs. Speech
Language studies syntax and semantics—the theoretical aspects of linguistic phenomena.
Speech focuses on phonetics and pronunciation, along with acoustic phenomena, hearing, and imagery.
Both disciplines study language, but language belongs to the theoretical realm, while speech is grounded in empirical observation.
Empirical Data
Empirical data are directly observable without mediation, accessible through everyday experience and ordinary language.
Feyerabend’s Anarchism: “Anything Goes”
Feyerabend argued that strict adherence to demarcation reduces the empirical content of science. He suggested that metaphysical speculations, myths, and cosmologies can offer valuable insights, proposing a methodological rule of “anything goes.” Pluralism, choice, and freedom are key. He challenged the privileged position of science.
Scientific Knowledge Streamlines Experience
Scientific knowledge explains facts through hypotheses and theories, rather than simply listing them.
Formal vs. Material Science
Formal Science: Studies the specific object of a science.
Material Science: The object of study shared by various sciences.
Operation Synthesis and Induction
Operation synthesis involves composing and recomposing a whole from its parts. Induction is the reasoning process that attempts to derive a general law from observed particular cases, applicable to unobserved cases as well.
The Artificiality of Art
Thinkers like Ortega y Gasset and Maliandi emphasize the artificial nature of art. Human art forms are explained by their connection to uniquely human traits: creative imagination, language, symbolization, and patience.
Observation Sentences
Two types of observation sentences exist:
- Unique sentences derived from specific observations.
- General sentences applicable to all instances.
Essential Condition for Singular Observation Sentences: Must not contradict the topic.
Marcuse’s One-Dimensional Man
(Characterize with Bunge’s perspective – further information needed)
The Ambiguity of Technology
Technology is inherently ambiguous. It can liberate humanity from arduous labor and disease, enabling control over nature and expanding knowledge. However, it can also be an instrument of domination, exploitation, manipulation, and control, raising ethical, sociological, ontological, and human concerns.
Factual Sciences
(Definition needed)
Culture from a Sociological Perspective
(Definition needed)
Common Knowledge and Critical Thinking
Common knowledge is linked to our ways of thinking and feeling, including our preferences. Critical knowledge, in contrast, (explain the distinction)
Critique of Naive Inductivism
Naive inductivism assumes that science begins with observation. (Explain the critique)
Scientific Progress through Falsifiability
Scientific progress arises from addressing problems. Falsifiable hypotheses are formulated, criticized, and tested. Some are eliminated, while others withstand initial scrutiny but require further rigorous testing. This process of hypothesis generation, testing, and refinement continues indefinitely. Problems emerge in light of existing theories, not solely from observation, as naive inductivists claim.
Spontaneous Knowledge
Spontaneous knowledge accumulates unintentionally through daily experience, arising from our interactions with the environment.
Empirical Data Base
The empirical data base consists of information accessible through everyday experience and ordinary language. Scientists use this base to connect with theoretical elements and justify beliefs.