THE SCIENCESNatural and Human (Social) Sciences as Areas of Knowledge

TOK II - Lang

THE DEFINITIONS OF SCIENCE FROM A THEORETICAL VIEWPOINTA way of thinking that is both imaginative and disciplined; A balance between openness to new ideas and skepticism of claims unsupported by evidence;

Based on the facts, even if they don’t conform to our preconceptions;

Self-correcting. Science is an area of knowledge that comes with a built in error-correcting mechanism, and demands that scientific ideas be open to scrutiny by the “outside world”

NATURAL VS. HUMAN SCIENCESIt is imperative through your research and analysis that you make sure you know what makes these two Areas of Knowledge separate and distinct. If you transpose these AOKs in your formal TOK essay, it will be clear you did not examine you research thoroughly enough.

HUMAN SCIENCES

What are human sciences?Psychology- the study of mental processes and behavior through the observation and recording of how people relate to one another and the environment

Economics- the study of the process through which people make a living, the production and distribution of goods, and the organization of industries

(CONT.) Anthropology- the student of human beings, they evolutionary history,

physical character, group relationships, cultural history, historical and present day geographical contribution

Sociology- the study of social customs, structures, and institutions and of the effect on individuals in groups and organizations

Political Science- the study of functions performed by the government and the patterns in the behavior of voters, political parties, etc.

In short, they are all based on observation and seek to discover laws and theories of human nature.

THE VERSTEHEN POSITIONThe main aim of the Human Sciences is to understand the meaning of various social practices from the inside as they are understood by the agents (people, in this case) themselves:

You cannot simply observe the movements of people, you must get inside the heads of people and understand how they see the situation.

PROBLEMS WITH THE HUMAN SCIENCES

OBSERVATION BIASESHawthorne Effect

Presence of the observers produce a bias and unduly affects the outcome of the experiment

Margaret Mead Case The observed respond (or absolutely do not respond) to the expectations of the observer

CLAIMS ABOUT HUMAN SCIENCESConcepts are vague and impreciseScientist cannot state and verify hypotheses with precision and universality

Unavoidable interaction between the scientist and what he studies (see observation biases)

Although an aim of human scientists, they are unable to predict human behavior (creativity/ spontaneity)

NATURAL SCIENCESIncludes:

PhysicsChemistryBiology

WHAT ABOUT NATURAL SCIENCES?Some argue that science is the only road to knowledge

Natural Sciences are the dominant cognitive paradigm (model of knowledge)

Science is not God and has weaknesses and limitations

Scientific beliefs change over time

INDUCTIVISM/ THE SCIENTIFIC METHODThe traditional picture of the scientific method:

ObservationHypothesisExperimentLaw – if the experiment confirms the hypothesis and id is controllable, measurable, and repeatable.

Theory – explains and unifies various laws and explains why laws are the way they are and provides focus for further research.

PROBLEMS WITH OBSERVATION IN THE NATURAL SCIENCESRelevance – you must begin with what is relevant and irrelevant to the problem.

Expectations – expectations can influence what we see

Expert Seeing – use of scientific equipment can often further complicate things

The Observer Effect – the act can affect the outcome

Two philosophers of science: Thomas Kuhn and Karl Popper have some answers, which takes on an interesting journey into the worlds of science and epistemology.

Def: epistemology: The study or a theory of the nature and grounds of knowledge especially with reference to its limits and validity

Kuhn says that a scientific community works within a certain ‘paradigm’. A paradigm, according to Kuhn is a collection of shared beliefs, assumptions, laws, theories and methodologies, which scientists in a particular discipline accept as the way science is done .

AVOID IDEAS OF PSEUDOSCIENCE

Pseudoscience- a claim, belief, or practice which is presented as scientific, but does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status.

Pseudoscience is often characterized by the use of vague, contradictory, exaggerated or unprovable claims, and a general absence of systematic processes to rationally develop theories.

Examples of pseudoscience: Crop circles Belief that fairies, gnomes, etc. exist Psychic mediums

SO make sure that when you are gathering evidence for your TOK Prescribed Title essays, you do not include pseudoscientific information unless you are using it to support a reputable claim, and even that is a risky stretch.

SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONSA scientific revolution takes place when scientists become dissatisfied with the prevailing paradigm, and put forward a completely new way of looking at things.

The new paradigm replaces the old and normal science begins again. Ex. Aristotelian Physics replaced Newtonian Mechanics (NM) and NM was replaced by Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.

It is believed that there is no such thing as a perfect theory in science.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HUMAN AND NATURAL SCIENCES Reductionism

Seeks to explain one subject in terms of other more fundamental ones.

Ex: one might be able understand economics in terms of psychology and psychology in terms of neuroscience.

Holism The only way to make sense of things is to look at the whole problem.

Ex: you cannot understand a group in terms of the individual or an action independent of the context in which it takes place.