What Does Philosophy Have to Do with Science?
When people first hear the phrase “philosophy of science,” a common reaction is a puzzled sort of look, often followed by a question along the lines of “what does philosophy have to do with science?” The question is perfectly reasonable.
Philosophy and science are often viewed as quite separate enterprises, seemingly having little to do with one another. Philosophy, for example, is often viewed as pursuing the big, meaning-of-life type questions, with science pursuing more down-to-earth type questions.One of my main goals in this introductory essay will be to illustrate that, no matter where in science one looks, one quickly uncovers substantive philosophical issues. In short, philosophy has a great deal to do with science. Some of the philosophical issues we will uncover are directly relevant to, and directly affect, the day-to-day workings of scientists, while others are philosophical questions and issues concerning some of the foundational concepts and tools used by scientists. But the bottom line is that philosophy is everywhere in science.
My strategy to illustrate these connections between science and philosophy is straightforward: we will look into a variety of aspects of science, and in each case, we will find that it does not take long to uncover substantive philosophical issues. Along the way we will also have a chance to get an overview of some basic and recurring topics in the philosophy of science.
Aside from the introduction and conclusion, this essay is divided into two general sections, each with several subsections. The first major section explores a number of philosophical issues that are relevant to the day-to-day workings of science. The second major section turns to a sampling of philosophical topics involving some of the fundamental concepts and tools of science, for example, scientific explanation, scientific laws, and inductive reasoning.
I should stress that this is an introductory essay, in which we will be quickly passing through a variety of issues and topics. In later essays in this book, you will have a chance to look into some of these issues (and many others) more carefully. You might want to think of this introductory essay as a sort of philosophy of science sampler, with which we can get a taste of some of the ways philosophy ties in with science and a flavor of some of the recurring topics and issues in the philosophy of science.
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