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SUMMARY:The rationality of science in relation to its history - Sherrilyn 
 Roush (King's College London)
DTSTART:20150129T153000Z
DTEND:20150129T170000Z
UID:TALK57273@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Richard Staley
DESCRIPTION:Many philosophers have thought that Kuhn's claim that there ha
 ve been paradigm shifts introduced a problem for the rationality of scienc
 e\, because it appears that in such a change nothing can count as a neutra
 l arbiter\; even what you observe depends on which theory you already subs
 cribe to. The history of science challenges its rationality in a different
  way in the pessimistic induction\, where failures of our predecessors to 
 come up with true theories about unobservable entities is taken by many to
  threaten the rationality of confidence in our own theories. The first pro
 blem arises from a perception of uncomfortably much discontinuity\, the se
 cond from an unfortunate kind of continuity\, in the track record of scien
 ce. I argue that both problems are only apparent\, and due to under-descri
 ption of the history. The continuing appeal of the pessimistic induction i
 n particular is encouraged by narrow focus on a notion of method that Kuhn
  was particularly eager to resist.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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