philosophy of science

Knowledge theory applied

Philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy that examines the foundations, methods, and implications of scientific inquiry.

It asks questions like what distinguishes science from non-science, how scientific theories are confirmed or falsified, and whether scientific knowledge gives us truth about reality or merely useful models.

Major concerns include the nature of causation, the role of observation and experiment, and how scientific revolutions occur.

Her philosophy of science course challenged assumptions she'd never questioned about how we know what we know.

Related

rationalism · falsifiability · inductive reasoning · scientific method · causality · thought experiment · paradigm · paradigm shift · instrumentalism · hypothesis testing · skepticism · methodology · reductionism · pragmatism · truth · Occam's razor · evidence · burden of proof

Opposites
meta-level vs. practice-level

philosophy of scienceempirical research

Investigation grounded in observation

experimental science · applied science · fieldwork · data collection · clinical research

epistemic approach

philosophy of scienceanti-science

Opposition to empirical methodology

pseudoscience · mysticism · superstition · irrationalism · obscurantism

academic domain contrast

philosophy of sciencephilosophy of art

Theory of beauty and art

aesthetics · theology · ethics · moral philosophy · metaphysics

Family

science, philosophy, philosopher, philosophical, philosophic, philosophies, philosophers, philosophize, epistemology

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