Feng Shui and the Demarcation Project

The vast majority of well-informed philosophers of science and scientists who are clearly (uncontroversially) scientists are able to extensionally differentiate between almost all scientific and non-scientific practices, disciplines, theories, attitudes, modes of procedure, etc., and do so or would do so in much the same way. This legitimately leads to the conclusion that the main problem of scientific demarcation has already, in a sense, been solved, although an explicative integrated account of that solution has not yet been given. Doing so is the goal of the project proposed in Fernandez-Beanato (Journal for General Philosophy of Science 51(3):375–391, 2020b). To advance toward the solution of the scientific demarcation problem, this article executes part of that project: a first step for scientific demarcation is the composition of a broad “list” (set) of accepted characteristics, conditions, or properties of science, or indicators of scientificity (most of them, by themselves, unnecessary and insufficient) which might be collectively used to establish a demarcation between those theories, cognitive fields, practices, etc. which are scientific and those which are not. This article deals with feng shui as a clear case of a non-science. It defines feng shui and then lists properties of science that feng shui possesses and properties of science that it lacks. This article then shows that the proposed demarcatory list demarcates feng shui as non-scientific, in agreement with the current philosophical and scientific consensus.

Philosophy of sustainability experimentation _ experimental legacy, normativity and transfer of evidence

The recent proliferation of types and accounts of experimentation in sustainability science still lacks philosophical reflection. The present paper introduces this burgeoning topic to the philosophy of science by identifying key notions and dynamics in sustainability experimentation, by discussing taxonomies of sustainability experimentation and by focusing on barriers to the transfer of evidence. It integrates three topics: the philosophy of experimentation; the sustainability science literature on experimentation; and discussions on values in science coming from the general philosophy of science, the social sciences, and sustainability science. The aim is to improve understanding of how sustainability experimentation has evolved, from a broader picture of the history and philosophy of science, with a specific focus on understanding evidence production and how evidence traveling in and from sustainability experiments can be improved, particularly in the context of complex and pervasive normative commitments of the research. By engaging in these topics, this research is one of the first philosophical accounts of sustainability experimentation, contributing both to the knowledge on specific philosophies of science and to the further development of an evidence-based sustainability science through a better understanding of the barriers to more relevant and usable knowledge.

Teorías de alcance intermedio, práctica científica y metateoría estructuralista

The present work is immersed in the context of the contemporary philosophy of science, especially of the semanticist philosophy of the structuralist metatheory. Objectively, the work aims to reestablish the dialogue between the general philosophy of science and the special philosophy developed by scientists concerned with the fundamentals of their discipline, in this case, with sociologists. After presenting the Mertonian notion of middle range theory, the conception of theory that offers ME and, from that conception, a way of conceiving both global intertheoretical relations and intertheoretical change will be presented. Finally, the analysis of the use of the notion of middle range theory in scientific practice will be made, analyzing the specific case of sociological research about organizations.

The Case Study Method in Philosophy of Science: An Empirical Study

There is an ongoing methodological debate in philosophy of science concerning the use of case studies as evidence for and/or against theories about science. In this paper, I aim to make a contribution to this debate by taking an empirical approach. I present the results of a systematic survey of the PhilSci-Archive, which suggest that a sizeable proportion of papers in philosophy of science contain appeals to case studies, as indicated by the occurrence of the indicator words “case study” and/or “case studies.” These results are confirmed by data mined from the JSTOR database on research articles published in leading journals in the field: Philosophy of Science, the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science ( BJPS), and the Journal for General Philosophy of Science ( JGPS), as well as the Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association ( PSA). The data also show upward trends in appeals to case studies in articles published in Philosophy of Science, the BJPS, and the JGPS. The empirical work I have done for this paper provides philosophers of science who are wary of the use of case studies as evidence for and/or against theories about science with a way to do philosophy of science that is informed by data rather than case studies.

Philosophy of Cosmology

Physical cosmology, the study of the large-scale structure of the universe and its evolution, has become a central area of research in fundamental physics. Theoretical and observational developments have led to acceptance of a “standard model” describing the history of the universe in impressive detail. These developments raise a number of challenging foundational questions that have stimulated the emerging field of philosophy of cosmology. Many of these questions are closely tied to discussions in general philosophy of science and philosophy of physics, whereas others are distinctive to the field. This bibliography aims to provide an orientation for both kinds of questions. As philosophy of cosmology is an emerging field, the literature in this area is sparse. Hence this bibliography includes two kinds of references that do not explicitly address philosophy of cosmology. First, it identifies several philosophical papers regarding other scientific fields, with the thought that these will inform discussions of parallel issues in cosmology. Second, it includes several references to the scientific literature, to provide philosophers with a useful orientation to contemporary scientific debates.

Special and general philosophy of science. Encyclopedic dictionary

The dictionary outlines the philosophy of logic, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, computer science, medicine, psychology, pedagogy, economics, political science, sociology, jurisprudence, history, linguistics, art criticism. The main concepts of the general and specialized knowledge of the philosophy of science are considered, great attention is paid to ethical issues and the latest concepts of the analytical, phenomenological, hermeneutic, poststructuralist philosophy of science. The contribution to the philosophy of science of leading domestic and foreign scientists is highlighted.