• Philosophy -> Metaphysics and Ontology

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What constitutes the core of the philosophy of science - is it strictly epistemological, or is there more to it?

Lockie Lehmann

The philosophy of science is like the rules that scientists use when they study things to understand them better. Kind of like a playbook helps football teams play together better. The core of this philosophy is trying to figure out what is true about the world. But there is more to it than just that! Understanding how we know things is really important too.

Think about it like this: if you were trying to make a cake, you wouldn't just throw random ingredients together and hope it worked out. You would use a recipe to guide you on what to do step by step. The philosophy of science is like that recipe for scientists. It helps them know what steps to follow when they are trying to learn new things about the world.

Some people say that the philosophy of science is only about how we know things. They call this epistemology. It's like the part of the recipe that tells you why you need certain ingredients. For example, if you are making a chocolate cake, you need chocolate because that's what makes it taste like chocolate. Similarly, scientists use certain methods and follow certain rules when they study things. This helps them figure out what is true and what is not.

But there is more to the philosophy of science than just figuring out how we know things. It also helps scientists figure out what questions to ask and how to answer those questions. Some people call this metaphysics. It's like the basic structure of a recipe. For example, before you start making a cake, you need to know what kind of cake you want to make. Do you want a chocolate cake, or a vanilla cake, or a strawberry cake? Scientists also need to know what questions they want to answer before they can start studying something.

So, what is the core of the philosophy of science? It's a combination of epistemology and metaphysics. Scientists need to understand how we know things and how to ask and answer questions to learn more about the world. These are the basic rules that help scientists study things and understand them better.