Summary Answers to all key questions of POTH + text reports (All you need to pass the exam)
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Course
Philosophy Of The Humanities
Institution
Universiteit Van Amsterdam (UvA)
The perfect summary to pass your exam (without spending too much time on readings and lectures). I've studied the key questions + answers and my text reports and that was more than enough for the exam. I've passed the course with a 7,6 (and minimum effort :p)
1. Both philosophy of science and philosophy of humani es have a double task, viz. a
descrip ve task and a norma ve task (pp. 16-18 Leezenberg 2018). Explain these tasks.
• Descrip ve = descrip on of scien c prac ces and products
• Norma ve = norma ve assessments of scien c prac ces
2. What is the problem of demarca on (p. 91)?
• Demarca on = dis nc on between Episteme (universal truth) and Doxa (pseudo-science
opinion)
• What dis nguishes good science from pseudo-science?
• Three possible answers:
1. Logical Empiricism
- Veri ability: claim should be testable using sensory experience.
- Poli cs and philosophy should be ra onally discussed and prac ced
- Science as the right model for philosophy
- Analysis of the nature , succes and growth of scien c knowledge
- Get rid of everything that is meaningless (religion, specula ve)
2. Cri cal Ra onalism
- Falsi ability: claim should have the poten al to be refuted by some possible observa on
- All knowledge is hypothe cal
- There is no neutral observa on, all are theory laden
3. Kuhn’s Philosophy of science
- Kuhn: ‘normal science is governed by a paradigm’
3. Logical Empiricism endorsed a veri ca on criterion of meaning (p. 77). Explain what this
criterion entails.
- Veri ca on criterion of meaning: knowing the meaning of a sentence is knowing how to verify
it by means of observa on (testability).
- Scien c claims are veri able so they have meaning
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, 4. According to Popper, the veri ca on criterion is useless for dis nguishing universal laws from
metaphysical statements (p. 90). Explain Popper’s argumenta on for this claim.
- It is impossible to verify universal laws due tot the problem of induc on
- Law will be refuted by future observa ons
- Conforma on is NOT a solu on so veri ca on is NOT a solu on to the demarca on problem
5. Popper endorsed falsi ability as a solu on to the problem of demarca on (p. 91). Explain
what this criterion entails.
- Falsi ability: claim should have the poten al to be refuted by some possible observa on
- Deduc ve tes ng to capture growth of scien c knowledge
- Knowledge is not found in observa on, but can be corrected in the light of observa on
- A good theory allows a scien st to grow
6. How does the induc ve method of veri ca on di er from the deduc ve method of
falsi ca on (p. 92)?
• Induc ve = developing a new theory by veri ca on
• Deduc ve = using an exis ng theory by falsi ca on
7. What is the key di erence between an observa on sentence (Logical Empiricism) and a basic
sentence (Popper) (p. 94)?
• Observa on sentence = A statement that is not based on the truth of another statement and
is, rather, taken from a direct observa on is called an observa on sentence. In order to
understand the observa on sentence, no previous knowledge is needed.
• Basic sentence = a theory laden statement that is already informed by the theory that gives
reason for observa on
8. Kuhn dis nguished two di erent meanings of the term paradigm (pp. 118-119). Which
meanings?
1. Exampler: model of good scien c prac ce
2. Disciplinary matrix: science in a par cular eld, a package of claims about the world, method
for gathering data. A paradigm that holds together the discipline (by certain rules)
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