Philosophy Of Science

Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy which deals with the basics, methodology and effects of science. The subject matter in this study seeks to determine what should be viewed as science, reliability of theories of science and the ultimate scientific purpose. Philosophy of science overlaps with ontology, epistemology and metaphysics especially when it involves the study of the relationship between the truth and science.

The Battle in Philosophy of Science

Philosophers are yet to agree on the various core problems relating to philosophy of science like whether scientific thinking could be justified and whether science should disclose facts of invisible things. Although these problems face science as a whole, philosophers tend to solve problems which relate to specific scientific discipline such as physics and biology. However, some philosophers use existing scientific results to draw conclusion on the philosophy as a whole.

Although the history of philosophy dates back in Aristotle era, the philosophy of science developed into distinct discipline in the mid of the twentieth century during the wake of the movement of logical positivism that purposed to develop criteria to ensure every statement of philosophy is objectively assessed and meaningful.

Arguments of Philosophers of Science

At the present, some philosophers seek to ground philosophy of science in the assumption of axiomatic like the uniformity of nature. However, most philosophers have adopted coherent approach to science which makes sense. Nevertheless, other philosophers such as Paul Feyerabend disagree with the coherent approach and argue that every approach to philosophy of science should be accepted including the supernatural explicit. There is as well a tradition in continental philosophy whereby science is approached from the perspective of a severe analysis on experiences of human.

Specific disciplines of science philosophy raise questions concerning general relativity to the economic implications to the public policy. The subject matter is whether a single discipline of science could be reduced to the terms of a different discipline. That is, can physics be reduced to chemistry, or can psychology be reduced to sociology?

As well, the general philosophy of science questions arise higher specificity in the certain discipline of science. For example, validity of scientific thinking is viewed in distinct guise in the basics of statistics. As well, the question on what should be included in science raised a matter between life and death in medicine philosophy.Philosophy of science has attracted severe debate and arguments among philosophers of science which does not seem to end in near future.