by Albert Major

for Critical and Scientific Thinking

(Vlerick, M. (2022). Critical and scientific thinking.) - Chapter 1

In this book we will learn:

• What reasoning errors we tend to make, why we make those reasoning errors, what they lead to, and how we can improve our thinking.
• To distinguish sense from nonsense.
• What makes science reliable

Central question of the philosophy of science: ‘What is science?’

• What distinguishes science from pseudoscience and from non-scientific fields?
• What is the relationship between scientific theories and reality?
• How do sciences evolve?

Realists think that scientific theories represent reality truthfully or, at least that they can represent reality truthfully

Anti realists think we can only claim that scientific theories can make accurate predictions, not that they actually represent reality

Thomas Kuhn (1970) thinks sciences undergo ‘revolutions’, discarding just about everything that came before it. (they just switch ways of looking at world) - (Anti realist view)

Thomas Kuhn sees science as an intellectual activity within a so-called paradigm

A paradigm is built on basic assumptions for which there is no evidence. (In case of a revolution, one simply switches paradigms and starts again in a new paradigm)