Thomas Kuhn: His Core Ideas
Philosopher Ian Hacking talks about Thomas Kuhn's core ideas, including the notion that scientists generally practice what Kuhn terms "normal science," but that at times there are tremendous breakthroughs that usually come about after a period of fr...
What Is Philosophy?
Philosopher John Searle provides an overview of philosophy, noting that it doesn't have a clear definition. As part of the discussion, Professor Searle contrasts philosophical questions and scientific questions.
New and Some
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New And Some
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New And Some
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Sir Francis Bacon And The Case For Curiosity
Philosopher Ian Hacking talks about the contributions of Sir Francis Bacon to scientific inquiry. Professor Hacking notes that while Bacon's approach later came to be viewed as a model for how science should be done, during his lifetime, he didn't a...
Empiricism and Rationalism
Philosopher Ian Hacking talks about the challenge of making a clear distinction between classic rationalists and empiricists. He notes that "there's an awful lot of theorizing to be found in those empiricists, and a lot of concern with experimentati...
History of Scientific Ideas, The
Philosopher Stephen Toulmin talks about the ways in which terminology and meaning change over time in the sciences. He gives the example of Leibniz insisting that "...the processes of the physical world should be mechanical." Professor Toulmin conte...
Feyerabend and Kuhn
Philosopher Ian Hacking talks about Thomas Kuhn and Paul Feyerabend, who were contemporaries at UC Berkeley in the late 1950's. Both were critical of the idea that there is some fixed, rational logic to science. But Feyerabend took the idea of openn...
The Mind-Body Problem
Philosopher John Searle explores "the mind-body problem." He begins by talking about the perspective of Descartes and others who viewed the mind and the body as totally separate and distinct areas. Professor Searle then goes on to look at how the mi...