The Scientist’s Concern: Knowledge for its Own Sake

1970 ◽  
pp. 9-22
Author(s):  
Francis E. Reilly
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Inquiry ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Mode Of Life ◽  
Understanding Of Science

This chapter discusses Peirce's understanding of science. Peirce asserts that the lexicographer and the non-scientist may regard science as an “organized body of knowledge,” but the genuine scientist regards their pursuit as a “mode of life.” He argues that science is the pursuit of scientific men, and this pursuit must be motivated by the pure love of knowledge for its own sake. An understanding of what science is, therefore, can be achieved only by understanding what the scientist is about. For Peirce, the motive of the scientist is of primary importance: they must be in search of knowledge for its own sake. This, of course, means that the questions asked by the scientist, and the answers which they hope to find, will be theoretical. Accordingly, the method that they follow will be adapted to the scientist's theoretical questions. Hence this chapter considers scientific inquiry as the pursuit of truth for its own sake.

Towards a Contemporary Philosophy of Islamic Science

1990 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Anwar Ibrahim
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Work ◽  
Single Observation ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Stephen Hawking ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Theoretical Physicist ◽  
Islamic Science ◽  
Rational Mind ◽  
Understanding Of Science

Our understanding of science itself as a body of knowledge and as asystem of analysis and research has changed over the last decades, just asover the last two centuries, or especially after the age of Enlightement inEurope, science has become more powerful, more sophisticated and complex.It is rather difficult to determine where science ends and where technologybegins. In fact there is a gmwing awareness that the physical or nam sciences,as a means of studying and understanding nature, are relying on the more“humanistic“ and cultural approaches adopted by the social sciences or thehumanities. The tradition of natural science is being challenged by newdiscoveries of the non-physical and non-natural sciences which go beyondthe physical world.Certainly research is vital for the growth and development of all sciencesthat attempt to discover and understand the “secrets” of nature. The validityof any scientific theory depends on its research and methodological premisesand even that-its proposition or theories (in the words of a leading cosmologistand theoretical physicist, Stephen Hawking) -is tentative. Hawlung says: “Anyphysical theory is always provisional, in the sense that it is only a hypothesis:you can never prove it. No matter how many times the results of experimentsagree with some theory, you can never be sure that the next time the resultwill not contradict the theory. On the other hand, you can disprove a theoryby finding even a single observation that disagrees with the predictions ofthe theory.”The history of Western science is rooted in the idea of finding the ’truth’by objectivity. Nothing can be believed until there is a scientific proof ofits existence, or until it can be logically accepted by the rational mind. Theclassical scenario of scientific work gives you an austere picture of heroicactivity, undertaken against all odds, a ceaseless effort to subjugate hostileand menacing nature, and to tame its formidable forces. Science is depicted ...

Developing an Understanding of Science

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-132
Author(s):  
Andrew Shtulman ◽  
Caren Walker
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Reasoning ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Causal Learning ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Control Of Variables ◽  
Order Constraints ◽  
Biological Concepts ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Formal Science

Young children are adept at several types of scientific reasoning, yet older children and adults have difficulty mastering formal scientific ideas and practices. Why do “little scientists” often become scientifically illiterate adults? We address this question by examining the role of intuition in learning science, both as a body of knowledge and as a method of inquiry. Intuition supports children's understanding of everyday phenomena but conflicts with their ability to learn physical and biological concepts that defy firsthand observation, such as molecules, forces, genes, and germs. Likewise, intuition supports children's causal learning but provides little guidance on how to navigate higher-order constraints on scientific induction, such as the control of variables or the coordination of theory and data. We characterize the foundations of children's intuitive understanding of the natural world, as well as the conceptual scaffolds needed to bridge these intuitions with formal science.

scholarly journals ’Inquiry Physics’ Program for Students-Implementation of Inquiry Learning in the Physics Lessons in the High School in Israel

1970 ◽  
pp. 387-402
Author(s):  
Michal Sigron
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Scientific Inquiry ◽  
Inquiry Learning ◽  
The Body ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
The Past ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Physics Program ◽  
The World ◽  
State Of Israel

Teaching of the Sciences recently emphasizes more than in the past the importance of the student’s experience in inquiry, in different places in the world in general and in Israel in particular. This article describes the process of scientific inquiry and the change of the perception of the role, both of the student and of the traditional teacher, in the performance of the inquiry process. The article presents different initiatives that integrate the learning of inquiry in the teaching of physics in the high school in Israel. These initiatives show that the inquiry laboratories have the potential to promote meaningful learning among the students, to increase the depth of their understanding of the scientific concepts and the understanding of the nature of science. The article focuses on ‘Inquiry Physics’ program for students and presents the goals, the target audience, the time framework, and the structure of this program. The program aims to assemble the different initiatives under one framework and to provide them with an appropriate place in the teaching of physics. The learning method of inquiry is now fledgling in the State of Israel and mainly in the knowledge realm of physics. Therefore, exposure to this program may contribute to the body of knowledge on the characteristics of learning and teaching through inquiry in general and on the teaching of physics in particular.

Philosophy of Science and the Theory of Natural Selection

1998 ◽  
pp. 203-212
Author(s):  
John Losee
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Scientific Inquiry ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Evolutionary Origins ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Natural Selection Theory

Toulmin, Hull, Campbell, and Popper have defended an "Evolutionary-Analogy" view of scientific evaluative practice. In this view, competing concepts, theories and methods of inquiry engage in a competitive struggle from which the "best adapted" emerge victorious. Whether applications of this analogy contribute to our understanding of science depends on the importance accorded the disanalogies between natural selection theory and scientific inquiry. Michael Ruse has suggested instead an "Evolutionary-Origins" view of scientific evaluative practices in which scientific inquiry is directed by application of epigenetic rules that have become encoded in homo sapiens in the course of evolutionary adaptation. Among these rules are "formulative theories that are internally consistent," "seek severe tests of theories," (Popper) and "achieve a consilience of inductions" (Whewell). As a descriptive theory of science, the "Evolutionary-Origins" view is prima facie inconsistent with evidence that human beings often make decisions that violate the "genetically-hard-wired rules." As a normative-prescriptive philosophy of science, the "Evolutionary-Origins" view is limited by the fact that in biological evolution, adaptation to present pressures may be achieved at the expense of a loss of adaptability (the capacity to respond creatively to future changes in environmental conditions).

scholarly journals A context-aware ubiquitous learning approach to conducting scientific inquiry activities in a science park

2012 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwo-Jen Hwang ◽  
Chin-Chung Tsai ◽  
Hui-Chun Chu ◽  
Kinshuk Kinshuk ◽  
Chieh-Yuan Chen
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Inquiry ◽  
Learning System ◽  
Context Aware ◽  
Ubiquitous Learning ◽  
Science Park ◽  
Personalised Learning ◽  
Sensing Technology ◽  
Real World Learning ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Learning Behaviours

<span>Fostering students' scientific inquiry competence has been recognised as being an important and challenging objective of science education. To strengthen the understanding of science theories or notations, researchers have suggested conducting some learning activities in the field via operating relevant devices. In a traditional in-field scientific inquiry activity, the teacher usually lets the students operate the devices on their own after demonstrating the operational procedure. With such an approach, the students are likely to suspend the practice when they encounter problems; moreover, it is difficult for the students to connect what they have learned from the textbooks with the field practice. To deal with this problem, this study presents a context-aware ubiquitous learning system with sensing technology to detect and examine the real-world learning behaviours of students, such that personalised learning guidance and feedback can be provided; moreover, the students' experiences of operating those scientific devices, such as solar power equipment or the constellation simulators, can be conjunct to the knowledge learned from the textbooks. The experimental results from a science course of an elementary school show that this innovative approach is able to improve the learning achievements of students as well as enhance their learning motivation.</span>

APA Summit on National Assessment of Psychology: Executive Summary: Goal 2: Scientific Inquiry and Critical Thinking

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Mueller ◽  
Keisa Kelly ◽  
Helen Taylor ◽  
Karen Brakke ◽  
Gary Levine ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Scientific Inquiry ◽  
National Assessment ◽  
Executive Summary

Characterization of the Original Christmas Disease Mutation (Cysteine 206 → Serine): From Clinical Recognition to Molecular Pathogenesis

1992 ◽  
Vol 67 (01) ◽  
pp. 063-065 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherryl A M Taylor ◽  
Jacalyn Duffin ◽  
Cherie Cameron ◽  
Jerome Teitel ◽  
Bernadette Garvey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nucleotide Substitution ◽  
Novel Mutation ◽  
Factor Ix ◽  
Causative Mutation ◽  
Coding Region ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Polymerase Chain ◽  
Splice Junctions

SummaryChristmas disease was first reported as a distinct clinical entity in two manuscripts published in 1952 (1, 2). The eponym associated with this disorder, is the surname of the first patient examined in detail and reported by Biggs and colleagues in a paper describing the clinical and laboratory features of seven affected individuals (3). This patient has severe factor IX coagulant deficiency (less than 0.01 units/ml) and no detectable circulating factor IX antigen (less than 0.01 units/ml). Coding sequence and splice junctions of the factor IX gene from this patient have been amplified in vitro through the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). One nucleotide substitution was identified at nucleotide 30,070 where a guanine was replaced by a cytosine. This mutation alters the amino acid encoded at position 206 in the factor IX protein from cysteine to serine. The non conservative nature of this substitution, the absence of this change in more than 200 previously sequenced factor IX genes and the fact that the remainder of the coding region of this gene was normal, all provide strong circumstantial evidence in favour of this change being the causative mutation in this patient. The molecular characterization of this novel mutation in the index case of Christmas disease, contributes to the rapidly expanding body of knowledge pertaining to Christmas disease pathogenesis.

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