Methodological Naturalism and Reflexivity Requirement

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-330
Author(s):  
Hamed Bikaraan-Behesht ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Method ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Vicious Circle ◽  
Methodological Naturalism ◽  
Traditional Methods ◽  
Inductive Argument ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
Methodological Rule

Methodological naturalists regard scientific method as the only effective way of acquiring knowledge. Quite the contrary, traditional analytic philosophers reject employing scientific method in philosophy as illegitimate unless it is justified by the traditional methods. One of their attacks on methodological naturalism is the objection that it is either incoherent or viciously circular: any argument that may be offered for methodological naturalism either employs a priori methods or involves a vicious circle that ensues from employing the very method that the argument is aimed to show its credentials. The charge of circularity has also been brought against the naturalistic arguments for specific scientific methods; like the inductive argument for induction and the abductive argument for the inference to the best explanation. In this paper, I respond to the charge of circularity using a meta-methodological rule that I call ‘reflexivity requirement.’ Giving two examples of philosophical works, I illustrate how the requirement has already been considered to be necessary for self-referential theories. At the end, I put forward a meta-philosophical explanation of the naturalism-traditionalism debate over the legitimate method of philosophy.

scholarly journals On responsibility of the employer to undertake measures for preventing corruption

2020 ◽  
pp. 65-79
Author(s):  
Svetlana Pavlovna Basalaeva
Keyword(s):  
Russian Federation ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
Essential Condition ◽  
Labor Legislation ◽  
General Scientific ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Corruption Prevention ◽  
Legal Consequences

The subject of this research is the legal relations on corruption prevention in organizations from the perspective of anti-corruption and labor legislation, as well as law enforcement practice. The author employs a general scientific method of dialectical cognition, as well as a number of private scientific methods: technical-legal, system-structural, formal-logical (deduction, induction, determination and divisions of concepts). The article analyzes the four aspects of responsibility of an organization to undertake measures for preventing corruption: 1) circle of measures; 2) form and methods for establishing measures; 3) content of measures; 4) legal consequences of failure to deliver or unacceptable delivery) of the responsibilities for undertaking measures. The author describes the risks of the employer in organization of anti-corruption policy, as well as formulates the proposals on proper discharge of anti-corruption duties by an organizations in accordance with the following aspects: 1) the need to develop and undertake all measures established in the Part 2 of the Article 13.3 of the Law “On Corruption Prevention”; 2) the local normative acts should represent the form of anti-corruption measures; 3) the criterion for establishing anti-corruption responsibilities of the employees relates to their work function and rules of conduct in the organization; 4) proper discharge of responsibilities for undertaking anti-corruption  measures is an essential condition for exemption from liability set by the Article 19.28 of Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

scholarly journals Irrlichtelieren (Will-o’-the-wisping-around)

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Brown
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Method ◽  
Traditional Methods ◽  
Scientific Epistemology ◽  
The Will ◽  
Outside The Box

The lexeme Irrlichtelieren (will-o’-the-wisping-around, i.e. thinking outside the box) is Goethe’s neologism for a heterodox line of thought that displaces traditional methods of philosophy and science. Although the term occurs only once, in the student scene of Faust, Part One (FA 1.7:83.1917), the shifting value of will-o’-the-wisps in Faust and other works corresponds to the theories of scientific method Goethe advanced in essays of the 1790s and especially to the methodology of his Zur Farbenlehre (Theory of Color) of 1810. While in Goethe’s letters and in the devil’s language in Faust, will-o’-the-wisps betoken illusion, they develop in the course of Faust into symbols of the ineffable truth that Kantian metaphysics had effectively substituted for God. The ironic dialectic of the will-o’-the-wisps shapes Goethe’s views of pedagogy and scientific epistemology and his positions on the idealist subject/object dichotomy, on the relationships of nature and truth, on representation and knowledge, and on knowledge and community.

Positivism in the social sciences

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold Kincaid
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Social Research ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Methodological Individualism ◽  
Main Function ◽  
Social Convention ◽  
The Social

Positivism originated from separate movements in nineteenth-century social science and early twentieth-century philosophy. Key positivist ideas were that philosophy should be scientific, that metaphysical speculations are meaningless, that there is a universal and a priori scientific method, that a main function of philosophy is to analyse that method, that this basic scientific method is the same in both the natural and social sciences, that the various sciences should be reducible to physics, and that the theoretical parts of good science must be translatable into statements about observations. In the social sciences and the philosophy of the social sciences, positivism has supported the emphasis on quantitative data and precisely formulated theories, the doctrines of behaviourism, operationalism and methodological individualism, the doubts among philosophers that meaning and interpretation can be scientifically adequate, and an approach to the philosophy of social science that focuses on conceptual analysis rather than on the actual practice of social research. Influential criticisms have denied that scientific method is a priori or universal, that theories can or must be translatable into observational terms, and that reduction to physics is the way to unify the sciences. These criticisms have undercut the motivations for behaviourism and methodological individualism in the social sciences. They have also led many to conclude, somewhat implausibly, that any standards of good social science are merely matters of rhetorical persuasion and social convention.

scholarly journals Criminal Investigation Through the Eye of the Detective: Technological Innovation and Tradition

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 422-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Miranda
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
Criminal Investigation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Traditional Methods ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
Surveillance Studies ◽  
Social Studies Of Science ◽  
The Past ◽  
Criminal Investigators ◽  
Traditional Image

Technological elements and scientific knowledge are steadily transforming both the traditional image of the detective and the nature of contemporary police work. However, despite the potential utility of scientific methods and new technologies in criminal investigations, there are many barriers surrounding their application. We explore these barriers through a qualitative and comprehensive methodology, utilising a set of semi-structured interviews and informal conversations with criminal investigators.We use theoretical contributions from social studies of science and technology, surveillance studies and policing research to analyse how soft and hard forms of surveillance are applied in the practices of the Portuguese Criminal Investigation Police (Polícia Judiciária). The technological artefacts are both shaped by and shape how criminal investigators work. Consequently, it is necessary to explore how the collectives of human and non-human elements are constituted. By analysing the fusion of traditional methods of criminal investigation (hard surveillance) with new technologies of collection and use of information (soft surveillance) we see a hybrid figure of the contemporary detective emerging; a product of both the past and the present. In a context where innovation is sometimes constrained, traditional methods continue to endure. Nevertheless, the expansion of computerisation and police databases has had significant impact on how police information is collected and recorded.

scholarly journals PEMIKIRAN METODOLOGIS A. MUKTI ALI TENTANG PENELITIAN AGAMA

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rahmadi Rahmadi
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Basic Concept ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
Integral Assessment

In Indonesia, it will be said that A.Mukti Ali is a pioneer in introducing religious studies. A.Mukti Ali realized thatreligious studies did not only need the scientific methods but they must also integrate with social approaches. He thoughtreligious studies should be conducted objectively without involving the apologists-polemical element as a basic concept. Infact, the use of the scientific method, social sciences, and objective attitude do not be certainly enough to understandreligious phenomenon, despite religious reflection must be involved and researchers must give their views too. All componentsmust be synthesized in order to produce a holistic and integral assessment of religious phenomenon. The integratedcomponents that needed in studying religious phenomenon is what be called by Mukti Ali as a scientific approach-cumdoctrinaire.This writing will discussed about A.Mukti Alis thoughts in the field of religious studies.

scholarly journals Verifiability and Falsifiability as Parameters for Scientific Methodology

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 130
Author(s):  
Sandhya Shankar
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Method ◽  
Scientific Methodology ◽  
Karl Popper ◽  
Human Knowledge ◽  
Sense Experience ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
The World ◽  
The Mind

The question of „how do we come to know‟ has been the search of mankind since time immemorial. Neither has there been a consensus for that question nor there will be. Many a great minds have looked into this, coming up with various perspectives. Two such varying perspectives in this field are empiricism and rationalism. While the former emphasizes that experience (through senses) is the only source of knowledge the latter upholds that there is something beyond the sense experience, the mind that is the source of knowledge. The shift towards a scientific phase from that of the earlier theological and metaphysical phase gained popularity with positivism, where progress of human knowledge was considered in identifying truths through scientific methods. In this scientific journey towards knowing the world emphasis was on empirically observable things. It was believed that there are no ideas which come into our head without being dependent on our perceptions, thereby on our experience. The basis of classical science was considered getting empirical observations. It had to be a systematic way of studying what is out there. Purpose of science was considered to be limited to things which can be observed, thus being connected to a means of being verified. This paper thus looks into the notion of verifiability as an important parameter of scientific methodology and its importance as asserted by logical positivists. But this criteria of scientific method was challenged by another criteria, that of falsifiability. The next section will look into falsifiability as another parameter of scientific methodology. Since these parameters have been discussed widely among philosophers, this paper shall be focusing on the views of A. J. Ayer and Sir Karl Popper regarding the same. Furthermore, its application and relevance to the field of linguistics will also be discussed.

scholarly journals Innovative methods in teaching mathematics for college students

2012 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judita Jonuševičienė ◽  
Lina Dreižienė ◽  
Rasa Nutautienė
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Mathematics Teachers ◽  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
College Mathematics ◽  
Traditional Methods ◽  
Innovative Teaching ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Innovative Methods

This paper describes the concept of teaching methods and their distribution to the various scientific methods, in addition to described innovative teaching methods. Considered innovative teaching methods advantages and disadvantages of teaching mathematics, the math topics examples. College mathematics teachers survey showed that the most applied are traditional methods by integrating into them innovative methods, based on technologies and different methodologies.

scholarly journals An Open Science Peer Review Oath

F1000Research ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jelena Aleksic ◽  
Adrian Alexa ◽  
Teresa K Attwood ◽  
Neil Chue Hong ◽  
Martin Dahlö ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Peer Review ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Societal Impact ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
Research Results ◽  
Research Findings

One of the foundations of the scientific method is to be able to reproduce experiments and corroborate the results of research that has been done before. However, with the increasing complexities of new technologies and techniques, coupled with the specialisation of experiments, reproducing research findings has become a growing challenge. Clearly, scientific methods must be conveyed succinctly, and with clarity and rigour, in order for research to be reproducible. Here, we propose steps to help increase the transparency of the scientific method and the reproducibility of research results: specifically, we introduce a peer-review oath and accompanying manifesto. These have been designed to offer guidelines to enable reviewers (with the minimum friction or bias) to follow and apply open science principles, and support the ideas of transparency, reproducibility and ultimately greater societal impact. Introducing the oath and manifesto at the stage of peer review will help to check that the research being published includes everything that other researchers would need to successfully repeat the work. Peer review is the lynchpin of the publishing system: encouraging the community to consciously (and conscientiously) uphold these principles should help to improve published papers, increase confidence in the reproducibility of the work and, ultimately, provide strategic benefits to authors and their institutions.

Scientific method

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Hatfield
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Communication Technology ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Instrument Making ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
Careful Observation ◽  
Body Of Knowledge

Procedures for attaining scientific knowledge are known as scientific methods. These methods include formulating theories and testing them against observation or experiment. Ancient and medieval thinkers called any systematic body of knowledge a ‘science’, and their methods were aimed at knowledge in general. According to the most common model for scientific knowledge, formulated by Aristotle, induction yields universal propositions from which all knowledge in a field can be deduced. This model was refined by medieval and early modern thinkers, and further developed in the nineteenth century by Whewell and Mill. As Kuhn observed, idealized accounts of scientific method must be distinguished from descriptions of what scientists actually do. The methods of careful observation and experiment have been in use from antiquity, but became more widespread after the seventeenth century. Developments in instrument making, in mathematics and statistics, in terminology, and in communication technology have altered the methods and the results of science.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document