Theory of Knowledge - Course Companion for Students Marija Uzunova Dang Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang

of Hercules on each side of the Strait of
pillars
in the Mediterranean Sea. The pillars
Gibraltar
said to have been inscribed with the phrase
are
plus ultra, which translates from the Latin
ne
“go no further/nothing lies beyond”. The
to
one leaving and one returning, indicate
galleons,
act of venturing beyond the known limits of
the
of the ancient world. At the bottom,
knowledge
inscription of Biblical origin in Latin says
an
pertransibunt et augebitur scientia: “many
multi
go to and fro, and knowledge shall be
shall
increased”.
to the question of the power of
Returning
knowledge, Bacon would have
scientific
imagined humanity’s dominion over
probably
rather than our domination of it.
nature,
I would address one general admonition to all: that
…
consider what are the true ends of knowledge,
they
that they seek it not either for pleasure of the
and
or for contention, or for superiority to others, or
mind,
prot, or fame, or power, or any of these inferior
for
but for the benet and use of life; and that they
things:
does science change over time? The different
How
to this question reveal valuable insights
answers
practising scientists as well as those learning
for
make judgments about scientific claims. Our
to
of how modern science is done
understanding
challenged just a few decades ago, when
was
Kuhn wrote The Structure of Scientific
Thomas
in 1962, arguing that science proceeds
Revolutions,
periods of normalcy interrupted by
through
rather than in a linear way. Kuhn
revolutions,
the term “paradigm shift” to describe these
used
that produced new ways of thinking
revolutions
doing within scientific disciplines. He also
and
that science is not as objective as was
argued
is) commonly accepted, because scientific
(and
are in fact defined by what a community
truths
scientists agree to be true. This was vastly
of
from the prevailing view of science at the
different
often called the “Whig history” of science,
time,
a heroic march towards fundamental truths,
as
saw the success of science as self-evident
that
andinevitable.
history was a positivist philosophy of science
Whig
marching forward heroically, adding new truths to
as
existing and ever-growing stock of truths. Progress
an
seen as guaranteed by the scientic method and
was
did Kuhn dismiss scientific objectivity?
Why
understand this, we must understand how
To
described scientific change. He saw
Kuhn
as people who accepted a paradigm
scientists
accounted for accepted truths, concepts
that
investigative practices (that is, they had
and
enculturated into a scientific paradigm by a
been
community). A new idea or discovery
scientific
judged by how similar it was to the existing
was
and discoveries, and judgments
theories
similarity are fundamentally subjective,
about
to Kuhn.
according
might sound strange, especially because
This
clashes with the widespread belief that
it
is about objectively proving theories
science
(falsification). Remember, Popper
wrong
that a single reproducible anomaly (a
argued
inconsistent with a theory) is enough to
result
the theory. Kuhn is famous because he
reject
that science does not work that way,
showed
anomalies are more often “ignored or
because
away”. The case study below gives
explained
examples of this. Why do scientists
several
onto theories when results contradict
hold
Kuhn showed that it was only when
them?
really started to pile up and could
anomalies
longer be ignored, especially if a new theory
no
explain them, that a scientific theory
could
II. Perspectives
II. Perspectives
Whig history
human ability.
perfect and govern it in charity.
(Bacon quoted in Sargent 1999)
II.2 Change over time: Two historical
perspectives on science
171