Philosophy and scientific method

1. A
N
D

3. Introduction
• In this presentation we will examine the
development of philosophy and science
within a Western context of thinking.
• Early Greek and Medieval thought.
• The Scientific Revolution.
• The Twentieth Century.

4. Philosophy & Research
The Chambers twentieth century dictionary
defines philosophy as:
• pursuit of wisdom and knowledge.
• knowledge of the causes of things.
Research is defined as:• systematic investigation towards increasing
the sum of knowledge.

5. Science
Science is defined as:
• Knowledge ascertained by observation and
experiment, critically tested, systemized and
brought under general principles.
• Also cumulative with each generation
building on the ideas of the preceding ones
either through rejection and change or
conformity and development.

6. Science, Philosophy & Research
• So Philosophy uses Research to test
established ideas and identify their
limitations which in turn provides the basis
for the formulation of new explanations
and continues the process of philosophical
evolution.
• Science provides the mechanisms through
which Research is conducted.

7. Key Philosophical Problems
• There are two fundamental philosophical
problems which have influenced the
development of science:
1. The nature of reality
2. Is there such a thing as absolute truth?
• There have been two paradigm shifts in
Western thinking.

8. Greek & Medieval Thought
• The ancient Greeks tried to formulate
rational principles to explain the world’s
structure and composition.
• They also raised fundamental questions
about knowledge and reality which are
still applicable today.

9. • Klein and Lyytinen (1985) transposed
Plato’s cave analogy to one which was
applicable to an organizations IT system.
• They described a situation in which
users, analysts and management are
chained to a rock in a cave such that they
can only see distorted shadows cast on a
wall.

10. • These shades of reality are cast by a large
unsteady flame behind their backs.
• In the example each person sees
different images as they move across the
wall. They can argue who sees the TRUE
SHAPE but this cannot be confirmed with
any degree of certainty.

11. • The significance of this example to
Research is to demonstrate that different
people
observing
a
changing
phenomenon will draw different
conclusions about the causes of that
phenomenon.

12. Aristotle
• Aristotle’s philosophy was based on
observing the world and interpreting the
observations within the limits of our
experience.
• His arguments were based on deductive
reasoning as illustrated in his syllogy:
Men are mortal, Socrates is a man,
therefore Socrates is mortal.

13. Aristotle
• In essence Aristotle and the Greek
philosophers observed the world and
established lines of deductive argument
to predict what should happen.
• It did not involve experimentation.

15. • In was not until Descartes, Bacon and
Newton that philosophy moved into
the scientific age.
• The primary difference between the
Scientific revolution and the Greek
philosophers
was
INDUCTIVE
reasoning.

16. Inductive Reasoning
• Bacon insisted that knowledge should be
based on a process of induction, which is
the systematic method of reaching
general conclusions on the basis of
evidence gained from
individual
observations.
• This led to the use of controlled
experiments and mathematics to build
general theories.

17. Inductive Reasoning
• These theories in turn allowed
science to be used to exercise control
over the material world.
• Philosophy became involved in
changing the world rather than
simply observing the world.

18. Isaac Newton
• Probably
the
most
significant
contributions to experimental science
were made by Isaac Newton.
• Newton postulated a theory and then
used experimentation to test it against
alternatives.
• In Newtons view experiments provided
knowledge of the laws that governed the
whole world.

20. Empiricism vs. Rationalism
• Within this process was the debate
between empiricists and rationalists.
• Rationalists believe that all
knowledge starts in the mind.
• Empiricists believe that all
knowledge originates from
experience.

22. Rationalism
• Descartes’ used the method of
systematic doubt and concluded that the
only thing he could be certain of was his
own existence - I think therefore I am.
• Descartes use of the principle of
analytical reductionism forms the basis
of the majority Western scientific
thinking over the past 350 years.

23. • Reductionism is characterized by the
reduction of complex entities to the simpler
parts of which they are composed.
• However, in the twentieth century this
approach was challenged by those who
believe that evidence gathered from the parts
cannot necessarily be combined to describe
the behavior of the whole.
• These criticisms have been particularly strong
amongst those who have studied the social
sciences.

25. Empiricism
• John Locke concluded that there are no
such things as INNATE IDEAS but that all
we know comes from experience and
reflection upon experience.
• Such experiences cannot be isolated
from their surroundings as everything is
inter-related to everything else.
• Holistic approach to the scientific
method.

26. Systems Thinking
• One consequence of this holistic approach has
been the development of the SYSTEMS
MOVEMENT and research methodologies such
as ACTION RESEARCH.
• It is systems thinking that many claim is
challenging the accepted views of scientific
revolution.

27. Conclusion
• At the beginning of this presentation I drew
attention to the philosophical questions about
what we know for certain and absolute truth.
• Through the scientific revolution philosophers
tried to develop methodologies that could
establish the absolute truth.

28. Conclusion
• It is sobering to recall that probably the most
significant contribution of the Twentieth
century was the downfall of Newton’s model
of the world and its replacement by Einstein's.
• The lesson that this provides to today's
researcher is that the results from scientific
work are never absolute.

29. Conclusion
• Hopefully in this presentation we have shown
that:
– there are many different approaches to obtaining
knowledge;
– that the knowledge gained depends upon the
approaches adopted.
• In the remainder of the Research Methods
unit you will examine some of these
approaches in greater detail.

30. UNIVERSITY
OF
MAKATI
PROF. TESSIE TAPIADOR
SAGADRACA

31. Prepared by:
Bantolinao, Danwil
Cabrera, Gienua Marie
Carpio, Zarlyd Rose
Gatdula, Micaella
Raymundo, Katrina
Suarez, Christine Joy
Surio, Sean M.