1. Chapter 7 Does Science Tell Us the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth?

2. Introduction
Philosophy of Science – critical analysis of various sciences and their methodology
Scientism – blind faith in the power of science to determine all truth

3. How do we come to belief?
Charles Sanders Peirce built the foundation of pragmatism
Abduction – the method for discovering the best scientific hypotheses for a given situation

4. The Fixation of Belief Charles Sanders Peirce
Examines the difference between doubt and belief
Doubt causes one to struggle for belief
Simply asking a question does not produce a struggle for belief
An inquiry does not need to begin with first principles, but from something which one does not doubt
When doubt ceases, the struggle ends and would be without purpose if it continued

5. The Fixation of Belief Charles Sanders Peirce
Beliefs become fixed using:
Method of tenacity
Method of authority
A pirori method
Method of scientific investigation

6. The Growth of Scientific Knowledge
Science is based on laws
Deductive-nomological model (covering law model) – an explanation of an event consists in “covering” the event under some law from which the explanation is deduced
How are conclusions validated?

7. Conjectures and Refutations Karl Popper
The growth of scientific knowledge comes from overthrowing theories and replacing them with better, more satisfactory ones
Rejects the idea that science grows through making conjectures based on theoretical laws

8. Conjectures and Refutations Karl Popper
Stronger theories can be distinguished because they:
Contain the most empirical information
Are logically stronger
Can be more severely tested
A new theory must be tested empirically

9. Scientific Revolutions
Hypothetico-deductive method – involves deducing consequences that should hold if the hypothesis is correct and then testing it experimentally
Normal science – the idea that science accumulates truth by building on previous theories over time
Revolutionary science – scientists sometimes reject traditional, time-honored theories in favor of new, incompatible ones

10. Scientific Revolutions
Anomalies – new events that do not fit within the prevailing beliefs
Paradigm – scientific achievement so deep and impressive that it defines daily practice for a community of scientists
Incommensurable – describes the incompatibility of two paradigms and the lack of ability to determine which is more accurate

11. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Thomas S. Kuhn
Defines normal science as research that is based on past scientific achievements
Paradigms are scientific achievements that attract more adherents than others and are open-ended enough to leave room for more discoveries
Scientific revolutions occur when an old paradigm is replaced with a new one
When paradigms change, there are usually a significant shifts in the criteria for determining the legitimacy of the problems and solutions

12. Objectivity and Science
Prejudice is a prejudgment and should be avoided
A bias is the perspective a person has and it cannot be avoided but a person should be aware of it
Standpoint theory – every person has a personal, social, cultural, and historical standpoint that limits and makes possible what they can know through discovering, analyzing, and critiquing standpoints. Popular among feminists and others.

13. Strong Objectivity Sandra Harding
The recognition of the role of standpoints in science and the production of knowledge leads to “strong objectivity”
Standpoint theory
Is not about understanding marginal lives more objectively, but about starting research from the location of the marginal life
Is not arguing that there is a universal description of a woman’s life that is a starting point for research

14. Science and Traditional Thought
How is scientific belief different from traditional religious belief?
Theodicy – explains why bad things happen

15. Old Gods, New Worlds Kwame Anthony Appiah
Explores the relationship between his background of traditional African belief and his understanding of European scientific belief
To understand how irrational beliefs are sustained, one must understand
The ritual and beliefs that support it
Historical sources of ritual and belief
What sustains the ritual and belief

16. Old Gods, New Worlds Kwame Anthony Appiah
Rationality is an ideal because it is something that should be reached for (truth) but that cannot be completely realized
Traditional religious theory is like natural science in that they both explain, predict, and control
Religious belief explains life in terms of personal forces, while natural science explains it by impersonal forces (Robin Horton)
Modernity is more accommodative than traditional cultural beliefs

17. The Will to Truth
“discursive formations” are what Foucault describes as something that operates independently of the intentions and beliefs of individuals, such as language
What are the discursive formations of knowledge, science, or the desire for truth?

18. The Discourse on Language Michel Foucault
In every society, discourse is determined by certain procedures that are meant to avert the powers and dangers of discourse, cope with chance events, and avoid materiality
Discourse is determined by:
Rules of exclusion
Opposition between reason and folly
Will to truth or knowledge

19. Truth and Power Michel Foucault
The “political economy” of truth is characterized by truth being:
Centered on scientific discourse
Subject to economic and political demand
Circulated widely
Produced and transmitted under control of political and economic apparatuses
The issue of political debate and social confrontation