Natural Science as an Area of Knowledge PDF

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Natural Science as an Area of Knowledge...

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Natural Science as an Area of Knowledge Summary of key ideas

A working definition of science

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Human Inquiry

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Largely responsible for global development over the last 500 years

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The most successful method of acquiring new knowledge?

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The Greeks introduced the concept of science, although they didn’t do experiments. Cause  Effect

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Science is observation, but can you explain things with observations? The Blue Bottle Experiment  - Kinetic energy makes things move faster and they become blue, will it turn blue if heated? - Molecules become bruised, will it turn blue if you hit it? - The liquid gets angry, if you shout at it will it turn blue? Main WOKs facilitating the Scientific Method - Germs/microbes get cold when shaken, Cool it down, spray it with germ killer? - Air in the flask, Replace air with CO2.  Doesn’t turn blue. - Divine intervention. Nope, just Nope. Science is about doing, if you can’t do an experiment, then it’s not science. - A good theory is a theory that you can test.

AOKs important to Science

Introduced the idea of science by doing experiments.

Bacon (The problem of Induction)

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Empirical Observation  to scientific laws through induction.

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Generalisation by Induction.

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Hypothesis

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Test to vary Hypothesis  Fail, then gather more information to formulate new hypothesis.

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If it works you get a scientific law.

The Problem, unreliability of generalisations. -

Induction works until there is an exception.

The view that scientific laws are only temporary working theories, being constantly refined.

Popper (Falsification)

Feyerabend (No one method)

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Theories are tested by rigorously attempting to falsify a claim.

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There is no such thing as certainty

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Relevance, a hypothesis that cannot be falsified cannot be scientific

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Growth of science, thinking of how to falsify something. “What if?”

Some scientists would deny that there is any one method. - The idea that “anything goes” - There are no such thing as scientific laws, only working theories.

A strength of a theory in science is its ability to make accurate predictions Science is the debate of alternatives

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