- Tytuł:
- The Computational and Pragmatic Approach to the Dynamics of Science
- Autorzy:
- Marciszewski, Witold
- Powiązania:
- https://bibliotekanauki.pl/articles/41310393.pdf
- Data publikacji:
- 2020
- Wydawca:
- Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Filozofii i Socjologii PAN
- Tematy:
-
algorithm
behavioral (vs declarative) knowledge
computability
corroboration
innate knowledge
intuition
invention
logic gates
oracle
pragmatic (vs classical) rationalism
problem-solving
reasoning
symbolic logic
Turing machine - Opis:
- Science means here mathematics and those empirical disciplines which avail themselves of mathematical models. The pragmatic approach is conceived in Karl R. Popper’s The Logic of Scientific Discovery (p. 276) sense: a logical appraisal of the success of a theory amounts to the appraisal of its corroboration. This kind of appraisal is exemplified in section 6 by a case study—on how Isaac Newton justified his theory of gravitation. The computational approach in problem-solving processes consists in considering them in terms of computability: either as being performed according to a model of computation in a narrower sense, e.g., the Turing machine, or in a wider perspective—of machines associated with a non-mechanical device called “oracle” by Alan Turing (1939). Oracle can be interpreted as computertheoretic representation of intuition or invention. Computational approach in another sense means considering problem-solving processes in terms of logical gates, supposed to be a physical basis for solving problems with a reasoning. Pragmatic rationalism about science, seen at the background of classical rationalism (Descartes, Gottfried Leibniz etc.), claims that any scientific idea, either in empirical theories or in mathematics, should be checked through applications to problem-solving processes. Both the versions claim the existence of abstract objects, available to intellectual intuition. The difference concerns the dynamics of science: (i) the classical rationalism regards science as a stationary system that does not need improvements after having reached an optimal state, while (ii) the pragmatical version conceives science as evolving dynamically due to fertile interactions between creative intuitions, or inventions, with mechanical procedures. The dynamics of science is featured with various models, like Derek J. de Solla Price’s exponential and Thomas Kuhn’s paradigm model (the most familiar instances). This essay suggests considering Turing’s idea of oracle as a complementary model to explain most adequately, in terms of exceptional inventiveness, the dynamics of mathematics and mathematizable empirical sciences.
- Źródło:
-
Filozofia i Nauka; 2020, 8, 1; 31-67
2300-4711
2545-1936 - Pojawia się w:
- Filozofia i Nauka
- Dostawca treści:
- Biblioteka Nauki
Artykuł