scholarly journals A Case Study on Theory Reduction and its Philosophy of Science

2000 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 255-270
Author(s):  
Shunkichi MATSUMOTO
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Theory Reduction

Pragmatic patterns in Bram Stoker’s Dracula

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Stubbs
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Prose Fiction ◽  
Linguistic Feature ◽  
Influential Book ◽  
Linguistic Methods ◽  
Literary Linguistics

Abstract In an influential book on literary linguistics, first published in 1981 and revised in 2007, Geoffrey Leech and his colleague Mick Short discuss linguistic methods of analysing long texts of prose fiction. This article develops their arguments in two ways: (1) by relating them to classic puzzles in the philosophy of science; and (2) by illustrating them with a computer-assisted study of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula. This case study shows that software can identify a linguistic feature of the novel which is central to its major themes, but which is unlikely to be consciously noticed by human readers. Quantitative data on the novel show that it contains a large number of negatives. Their function is often to deny something which would normally be expected, and therefore to express the protagonists’ distrust of their own senses in the extraordinary world in which they find themselves.

scholarly journals The recipes of Philosophy of Science: Characterizing the semantic structure of corpora by means of topic associative rules

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. e0242353
Author(s):  
Christophe Malaterre ◽  
Jean-François Chartier ◽  
Francis Lareau
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Full Text ◽  
Topic Modeling ◽  
Semantic Content ◽  
Semantic Structure ◽  
Language Generation ◽  
Topological Features ◽  
Text Content ◽  
F Measure

Scientific articles have semantic contents that are usually quite specific to their disciplinary origins. To characterize such semantic contents, topic-modeling algorithms make it possible to identify topics that run throughout corpora. However, they remain limited when it comes to investigating the extent to which topics are jointly used together in specific documents and form particular associative patterns. Here, we propose to characterize such patterns through the identification of “topic associative rules” that describe how topics are associated within given sets of documents. As a case study, we use a corpus from a subfield of the humanities—the philosophy of science—consisting of the complete full-text content of one of its main journals: Philosophy of Science. On the basis of a pre-existing topic modeling, we develop a methodology with which we infer a set of 96 topic associative rules that characterize specific types of articles depending on how these articles combine topics in peculiar patterns. Such rules offer a finer-grained window onto the semantic content of the corpus and can be interpreted as “topical recipes” for distinct types of philosophy of science articles. Examining rule networks and rule predictive success for different article types, we find a positive correlation between topological features of rule networks (connectivity) and the reliability of rule predictions (as summarized by the F-measure). Topic associative rules thereby not only contribute to characterizing the semantic contents of corpora at a finer granularity than topic modeling, but may also help to classify documents or identify document types, for instance to improve natural language generation processes.

scholarly journals Is Science Eliminating Ordinary Talk?

1970 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-41
Author(s):  
Louis Caruana
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Natural Science ◽  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
Science Philosophy ◽  
Actual Operation ◽  
Theories Of Meaning ◽  
Methodology Of Science ◽  
Broad Overview

Discussions dealing with natural science, philosophy and common sense are bound to draw on long-standing debates dealing with realism, methodology of science, philosophy of mind, metaphysics, epistemology, theories of meaning, and other topics. Instead of presenting a broad overview of these main trends, which will necessarily be superficial, I will do a kind of case study. The aim is to present just one particular debate which is of relevance to current research. The presentation is meant to give a taste of how these various long-standing debates are brought to bear on a specific issue. In this way, the very practice of engaging in a particular area of philosophy of science will serve as a platform from where the major areas can be seen in actual operation. The paper has four sections: the nature of ordinary talk; the ontological implications of this; the recently proposed account of the mental; an evaluation.

scholarly journals Demonstration, extension, and refinement of the re-proposed notion of design abduction

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 286-297
Author(s):  
Lauri Koskela ◽  
Ehud Kroll
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Retrospective Case ◽  
Model Based ◽  
Design Reasoning ◽  
Retrospective Case Study ◽  
New Hypothesis

AbstractThe original ideas on design abduction, inspired by treatments in philosophy of science, had a narrow conception on how novelty emerges in design, when looked at in terms of logic. The authors have previously presented a re-proposed notion of abduction in design, taking the differences between science and design into account. Now, in this article, the invention of the airplane by the Wright brothers is analyzed as a retrospective case study. Key parts of the re-proposed notion of design abduction are demonstrated, and two new types of design abduction are identified, namely strategic abduction and dynamic abduction. Perhaps even more importantly, a new hypothesis on the cognitive basis of design abduction is reached. While the importance of model-based abduction (and reasoning) is confirmed, the case also pinpoints the central role of verbalization and discussion in supporting design reasoning in general and especially abduction. All in all, it seems that an improved understanding of design abduction and its cognitive basis would be instrumental in promoting more effective and efficient designing.

Emergence

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Croasmun
Keyword(s):  
Systems Biology ◽  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Downward Causation ◽  
Feedback Loops ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
Middle Ground ◽  
Emergence Theory ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
Causal Structures

Emergence theory in philosophy of science is introduced, first in modest terms of the emergent properties exhibited by complex wholes that are not exhibited by their constituent parts. Then, emergence is treated as a trans-ordinal theory that stakes out a middle ground between reductionism and dualism. The tension between supervenience and downward causation is described as the generative dialectic of emergence. The coherence of downward causation is debated and ultimately affirmed on account of the prevalence of downward causation in the sorts of accounts produced by fields like systems biology. Racism is treated as a case study of the sorts of causal feedback loops generated by complex causal structures that operate at multiple levels of hierarchy.

scholarly journals From Explanation to Understanding: Normativity Lost?

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henk W. de Regt
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Scientific Practice ◽  
Focus Of Attention ◽  
Scientific Understanding ◽  
Rhetorical Theory ◽  
Chemical Revolution ◽  
Normative Power ◽  
Contextual Theory ◽  
Psychological Dimensions

Abstract In recent years, scientific understanding has become a focus of attention in philosophy of science. Since understanding is typically associated with the pragmatic and psychological dimensions of explanation, shifting the focus from explanation to understanding may induce a shift from accounts that embody normative ideals to accounts that provide accurate descriptions of scientific practice. Not surprisingly, many ‘friends of understanding’ sympathize with a naturalistic approach to the philosophy of science. However, this raises the question of whether the proposed theories of understanding can still have normative power. In this paper I address this question by examining two theories of scientific understanding: Jan Faye’s pragmatic-rhetorical theory and my own contextual theory of scientific understanding. I argue that both theories leave room for normativity, despite their naturalistic tendencies. The normative power of my contextual theory is illustrated with a case study of the chemical revolution.

scholarly journals Disambiguating “Mechanisms” in Pharmacy: Lessons from Mechanist Philosophy of Science

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 1833 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Yaman Abdin ◽  
Claus Jacob ◽  
Lena Kästner
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Contemporary Philosophy ◽  
Scientific Diagrams ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
In Vivo Effects ◽  
Shed Light

Talk of mechanisms is ubiquitous in the natural sciences. Interdisciplinary fields such as biochemistry and pharmacy frequently discuss mechanisms with the assistance of diagrams. Such diagrams usually depict entities as structures or boxes and activities or interactions as arrows. While some of these arrows may indicate causal or componential relations, others may represent temporal or operational orders. Importantly, what kind of relation an arrow represents may not only vary with context but also be underdetermined by empirical data. In this manuscript, we investigate how an analysis of pharmacological mechanisms in terms of producing and underlying mechanisms—as discussed in the contemporary philosophy of science—may shed light on these issues. Specifically, we shall argue that while pharmacokinetic mechanisms usually describe causal chains of production, pharmacodynamics tends to focus on mechanisms of action underlying the in vivo effects of a drug. Considering the action of thyroid gland hormones in the human body as a case study, we further demonstrate that pharmacodynamic schemes tend to incorporate entities and interactions on multiple levels. Yet, traditional pharmacodynamic schemes are sketched “flat”, i.e., non-hierarchically. We suggest that transforming flat pharmacodynamic schemes into mechanistic multi-level representations may assist in disentangling the different kinds of mechanisms and relations depicted by arrows in flat schemes. The resulting Baumkuchen model provides a powerful and practical alternative to traditional flat schemes, as it explicates the relevant mechanisms and relations more clearly. On a more general note, our discussion demonstrates how pharmacology and related disciplines may benefit from applying concepts from the new mechanist philosophy to guide the interpretation of scientific diagrams.

Philosophy of Science: Help or Hindrance?

1993 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 707-733 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul E. Meehl
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Scientific Revolution ◽  
Training Programs ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Normal Science ◽  
Case Study Method ◽  
Explicit Discussion ◽  
And Training

Scientists routinely employ metatheoretic principles, explicit discussion of which typically occurs in times of intense controversy, theoretical crisis, scientific revolution, and entry into a new domain. The writings of philosophers, including their disagreements, are often helpful in such circumstances. Whether knowledge of formal metatheory helps us in doing “normal science” is researchable. Much scientific thinking is of poor quality, and it could be improved by explicit metatheoretical education. Clinical practice and training programs should emphasize rational skepticism, respect for evidence, objectivity, and quantitative thinking. Because the relation between principles and success is probabilistic, metatheoretical research should implement the case study method by formal actuarial procedures.

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