25 ideas
3870 | The real problem of science is how to choose between possible explanations [Newton-Smith] |
3853 | For science to be rational, we must explain scientific change rationally [Newton-Smith] |
3859 | We do not wish merely to predict, we also want to explain [Newton-Smith] |
3854 | Positivists hold that theoretical terms change, but observation terms don't [Newton-Smith] |
3855 | Critics attack positivist division between theory and observation [Newton-Smith] |
3861 | Theories generate infinite truths and falsehoods, so they cannot be used to assess probability [Newton-Smith] |
3869 | More truthful theories have greater predictive power [Newton-Smith] |
472 | No things would be clear to us as entity or relationships unless there existed Number and its essence [Philolaus] |
3867 | De re necessity arises from the way the world is [Newton-Smith] |
3872 | We must assess the truth of beliefs in identifying them [Newton-Smith] |
3857 | Defeat relativism by emphasising truth and reference, not meaning [Newton-Smith] |
3858 | A full understanding of 'yellow' involves some theory [Newton-Smith] |
3863 | The anomaly of Uranus didn't destroy Newton's mechanics - it led to Neptune's discovery [Newton-Smith] |
3864 | Anomalies are judged against rival theories, and support for the current theory [Newton-Smith] |
3862 | All theories contain anomalies, and so are falsified! [Newton-Smith] |
3865 | Why should it matter whether or not a theory is scientific? [Newton-Smith] |
3866 | If theories are really incommensurable, we could believe them all [Newton-Smith] |
15282 | Facts should be deducible from the theory and initial conditions, and prefer the simpler theory [Osiander, by Harré/Madden] |
3871 | Explaining an action is showing that it is rational [Newton-Smith] |
1518 | Everything must involve numbers, or it couldn't be thought about or known [Philolaus] |
1519 | Harmony must pre-exist the cosmos, to bring the dissimilar sources together [Philolaus] |
473 | There is no falsehood in harmony and number, only in irrational things [Philolaus] |
469 | Existing things, and hence the Cosmos, are a mixture of the Limited and the Unlimited [Philolaus] |
476 | Self-created numbers make the universe stable [Philolaus] |
1787 | Philolaus was the first person to say the earth moves in a circle [Philolaus, by Diog. Laertius] |