I 51
Science/Mayr: puts great importance on the discovery of new "facts" that the creation of new concepts (or terms) moves into the background. Darwin would not have won the Nobel Prize because "selection" was not a "discovery" but a new concept, a new theory.
>
Discoveries/inventions, >
Theories, >
Facts.
I 54
Science/Mayr: the development against superstition, in the direction of provability, was unfavorable to biology itself, since it could not offer reproducible experiments.
>
Magical thinking.
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John Moore (1993)
(1) "Eight Criteria of Science":
1. Must be based on data obtained in the field or laboratory by observation or request
Without relying on natural factors.
2. In order to answer questions, data must be collected. In order to confirm assumptions observations must be done.
>
Observation, >
Experiments.
3. Objective methods must be used to avoid subjective bias.
>
Method.
4. Hypotheses must agree with observations and concepts.
>Hypotheses, >
Concepts, >
Comparisons, >
Comparability.
5. Any hypothesis must be verified, competing hypotheses have to be developed. Their suitability is to be compared.
6. Generalizations must be universally valid in the field of corresponding science. Unique events must be explainable, without supernatural factors.
>
Generalization, >
Generality, >
Single-case causation.
7. Confirmation only after repetition.
>
Confirmation, >
Verification, >
Justification.
8. Steadily improving theories.
>
Progress.
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"Provincial Science": a polemical concept, introduced for a distinction from physics whose law is universally valid.
I 62
Science/Biology/Mayr: the integration of biology into science philosophy has changed many of its principles:
Rejection of strict determinism and trust in universal laws, the acceptance of purely probabilistic predictions and historical representations.
I 65
E. M. Carr (Spiritual Scientist) (1961)
(2) Five Differences History/Science:
1. History: Special, Science: General
2. History does not teach lessons
3. History, unlike science, makes no predictions
4. History subjective, science: objective
5. History, unlike science, also touches religious and moral questions.
>
Historiography, >
Science, >
Prediction, >
Subjectivity,
>
Objectivity, >
Religion, >
Morality, >
Ethics.
I 141
Science/Evolution/Mayr: Difference: genetic diversity is random and not a fruit of considerations. This difference is not so important, however, because the source of diversity does not play an important role in Darwinism!
Cultural transmission is something quite different than genetic inheritance.
But: the most appropriate theory comes through: this is a Darwinian process.
>
Culture, >
Cultural values, >
Change in values, >
Inheritance,
>
Genes.
1. J. A. Moore (1993). Science as a Way of Knowing. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
2. E. H. Carr (1961). What is History? London: MacMillan.