Exam 1: Of Politics and Paradigms

In studying the history of scientific discovery, Thomas Kuhn observed that scientists frequently rejected the findings and assumptions of their predecessors rather than building upon them.

Replicability refers to the assumption that an objective observer who uses the same techniques as previous objective observers to describe a given phenomenon should achieve similar conclusions.

The criterion of falsifiability holds that a scientific theory must be based on statements that can potentially be proven false by observation.

Kuhn originally argued that scientific paradigms are incommensurable, in that they could not be evaluated against one another in terms of their validity.

Hume's "Fallacy of Selectivity" points out that scientists do not reason inductively, but allow their pre-existing beliefs to guide their observations.

As originally formulated by Bacon, empiricism allowed that scientific observers would be guided in the collection of data by their theories about a given phenomenon.

According to Kuhn, scientists adopt a given paradigm because it has been shown as more accurate and superior in its explanatory power than its rivals.

As a form of knowledge, interpretation is highly personal, not subject to the consensus of observers, and therefore not subject to refutation or proof.

Scientists refer to a "fact" as a theory that has been proven true by repeated observation.

Nomological/deductive theories are as common in the social sciences as in the physical sciences.