Description
This Volume 1 of Part II
considers the factors that make science progress. It lays out
the differences between normal science and pseudoscience by showing the
importance of the scientific method in the advancement of science. It introduces
the concept of Truth in science by raising the point that even though truth is
based on the scientific method, can science be true? Can it depict reality? The
author focuses on modern science, which, he thinks, was born thanks to the
Scientific Revolution which started with Galileo Galilei and led to the
Industrial Revolution. The impacts of the latter is analyzed in light of modernism, modernization, and modernity, all three linked to scientific
progress. The book also talks about the Newtonian scientific leap – by
analyzing particularly the then social and political fabrics of England – and
Albert Einstein by showing how he changed history. According to the author, our
very physical world can help us understand scientific progress. So, he
explains, among other things, the structure of atoms and molecules, the role of
physics in the understanding of our universe, Quantum Mechanics, and the
importance of Higgs-Boson. On the other hand, the book is a stunning revelation
of how important information is to scientific progress. To make his point, the
author, first, talks about John Vincent Atanasoff as the Father of computer
thanks to the invention of his ABC computer and then, Alan Turing as the Father
of modern computer thanks to his Turing Test and his views on Artificial
Intelligence. Both men played a momentous role in the Digital Revolution and in
the Information Age, according to the book. Finally, the author talks about
nanotechnology, which explores the world of small, meaning at the atomic and the
molecular levels and is an inescapable tool in the molecular biology revolution
which, itself, is an important factor in scientific progress and in transhumanism
or human enhancement defined as the ideology according to which man can surpass his
present state by improving his genetic material.
Abstract
Science is often distinguished from other domains of human culture by its
progressive nature: in contrast to art, religion, philosophy, morality, and
politics, there exist clear standards or normative criteria for identifying
improvements and advances in science. However, the traditional cumulative view
of scientific knowledge was effectively challenged by many philosophers of
science in the 1960s and the 1970s, and thereby the notion of progress was also
questioned in the field of science. Debates on the normative concept of
progress are at the same time concerned with axiological questions about the
aims and goals of science. The task of philosophical analysis is to consider
alternative answers to the question: What is meant by progress in science? This
conceptual question can then be complemented by the methodological question:
How can we recognize progressive developments in science? Relative to a
definition of progress and an account of its best indicators, one may then
study the factual question: To what extent, and in which respects, is science
progressive? What is driving the dynamism of science? Why are science and man
inseparable? Do we control science or does science control us? No matter, how
we put it, it boils down to one thing: science is here to stay – at least for
as long as we exist – and it will never be stationary. Humans are doomed to
evolve, and so is science. Today, we live in a world transformed by modern
science. We look to science to cure diseases, fill the future with
mind-boggling inventions and keep us from destroying the planet. What are these
hopes based on? Does science have some remarkable power? Is there a scientific
method that we count on to produce miracles? Does science induce knowledge or
is it the other way around? Download the book
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