Philosophers and their ideas
By using the inductive method.
How can we overcome the various idols and have more trust in our knowledge according to Francis Bacon?
All knowledge, right or wrong, dogmatic or scientific needs to be explained by understanding its local social conditions.
What is a key argument for sociology of science and the Strong Programme?
To reconcile skepticism with the religious doctrines of the Catholic Church.
Why did Descartes, despite arguing for fundamental doubt, end his argument by appealing to a good God?
Questions about the nature of being and the substance of things.
What kind of questions does ontology answer?
We can arrive at true knowledge about the first causes or axioms by using our "nous" or intuition.
What is Aristotle's approach to finding first principles that deductive reasoning can be built on?
That science should focus on (logical) analytic a priori, and (empirical) synthetic a posteriori statements, the latter of which need to be verifiable.
What is the key principle of the Vienna circle's logical positivism?
To develop a way of thinking about society that could end the disorder surrounding the French Revolution.
What was Comte's motivation for developing a positivist perspective for the social sciences?
Because you can always find evidence in favour of your theory.
Why did Popper argue that "verifiability" needs to be replaced with "falsifiability" to demarcate real and pseudo-science?
We may have "innate" knowledge, but it may not necessarily be true and needs to be tested against reality through observation.
What does Popper think about a priori knowledge and its role in human reasoning?
The difference between studying inanimate objects and thinking and feeling humans.
What motivates the focus on "Verstehen" as a method for hermeneuticians such as Dilthey (or Schütz)?
A strong rejection of the perceived ideological and dogmatic thought of Marxism and Psychoanalysis.
What inspired Popper to develop "critical rationalism"?
The basis for all (true) knowledge can be found in the mind and thinking (rather than sense data).
What does the philosophical position of "rationalism" entail (as opposed to empiricism)?
The innate structures of the mind precondition how we perceive reality, and thus we can make valid (generalising and causal) claims.
What is a key conclusion in Kant's Critique of Practical Reason?
Objective observations are possible, and any true knowledge must be based on these.
What does positivism entail?
The desire to develop an account of science and scientific knowledge that is based on actual scientific practice, rather than pure theory.
What motivated the thinking of Thomas Kuhn and the sociologists of science associated with the "strong programme"?
We cannot objectively observe anything, even our most simple sensations are influenced by prior knowledge or ideas.
What does the term "theory"-laden mean (cf Popper)?