Tag Archives: feyerabend

Scientific method and demarcation

Posted on November 12, 2010 by

In The Scientific Method, Mike Zajko sets out an argument that “no agreed-upon formulation of the scientific method exists” and that “it is more effective to consider science’s methods in terms of Hugh Gauch’s ‘general principles of scientific methodology’”, going … Continue reading →

Posted in History and Philosophy of Science | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Feyerabend’s methodological argument for realism

Posted on November 2, 2010 by

This is a slightly amended discussion of a methodological argument for scientific realism due to Feyerabend, focusing on a difficulty that arose from considering Einstein’s study of Brownian motion and the transition from the phenomenological to kinetic theories of gases. … Continue reading →

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Philosophy as remedy

Posted on October 25, 2010 by

This is a revised version of some comments I wrote a few years ago, when I observed that it is increasingly common to read opinion pieces that propose an increase in the study of philosophy, logic and science in schools as … Continue reading →

Posted in Feyerabend, Philosophy, Politics | Tagged , | 3 Comments

On cranks and demarcation

Posted on October 18, 2010 by

It is generally acknowledged that attempts to demarcate science from non- or pseudoscience, based on a priori standards, have failed. Here I discuss a values-based approach, advocated by Feyerabend in his paper Realism and Instrumentalism, in which he wrote: The … Continue reading →

Posted in Feyerabend, History and Philosophy of Science | Tagged , , , , , | 15 Comments

The Pope and the Galileo Affair

Posted on October 16, 2010 by

This entry collects together some remarks about Feyerabend’s comments on the Galileo Affair and their use by Pope Benedict XVI, with minor updates. There had been much discussion of the Galileo Affair following the election of Benedict because the then … Continue reading →

Posted in Feyerabend, Galileo, History, History and Philosophy of Science, Philosophy, Science | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments