The Scientific Attitude

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The Scientific Attitude Page 37

by Lee McIntyre


  Pseudoscience. See also Denialism

  creationism as, 175–180

  demarcation and, 70–73

  denialism and, 150, 155–159

  evidence and, 175

  gullibility and, 153–155, 174–175

  Laudan on, 27, 70–71

  openness and, 152–155, 173–175

  Popper on, 12, 27, 70–71, 208n8, 210n11, 212n30, 213n45

  Sagan’s matrix and, 152–155

  skepticism and, 152–155

  use of term, 150, 244n69

  Psychokinesis hypothesis, 181–184

  Puzzle solving, 19, 32–33, 211n20, 224n23

  Quantum mechanics, 38

  Questionable causation, 189

  Quine, W. V. O, 216n36

  Reflexive prediction, 246n1

  Reichenbach, Hans, 43–44, 44–45

  Reifler, Jason, 240n27

  Replication, 56, 81, 96, 102, 105–112, 189–190, 229n54

  Reproducibility Project, 108–112

  Respecting Truth (McIntyre), 152, 159–160, 198

  Retraction, 98–99, 143, 230n77

  Romney, Mitt, 1

  Ruse, Michael, 23

  Rush, Benjamin, 118–119

  Rutkow, Ira, 119

  Sagan, Carl, 152–155, 158–159, 173, 174, 178, 239n15, 241n28, 244n70

  Sagan’s matrix, 152–155

  Sargent, Rose-Mary, 59–61

  Schwarz, Norbert, 108–109

  Science. See also Demarcation criterion

  defending science, 2, 51, 202–205

  justification of, 150–151, 202, 203, 215n28

  myths of science, 19, 29, 89–90, 180

  normal science, 3–4, 19–20, 32–33, 211nn20–21

  pseudoscience and, 224n32

  science as special, 16, 18–20, 58–59, 113, 135–138, 185–186, 202–205

  Science of human behavior. See also Social science

  challenges of, 185–191, 192

  medicine and, 192–194

  Scientific attitude

  bias and, 226nn26–27

  childbed fever exemplar, 52–57, 120, 155, 169, 171, 191, 198, 224n34, 247n13

  cold fusion exemplar, 56–57

  data manipulation and, 133–138

  Einstein on, 57–58, 213n3

  everyday inquiry and, 73–75

  evidence and, 46, 48–50, 56–57

  fraud and, 133–138, 135–138

  honesty and, 147–148

  justification and, 202, 203

  Kuhn on, 57, 58–59

  methodology of science and, 59–60

  necessary and sufficient conditions and, 65–70, 73–76, 223n20

  peer review and, 56, 62, 85–91, 98–105, 112–113, 229n55

  Popper on, 57–58, 219n23

  problem of demarcation and, 50, 65–70, 76–79

  rejection of, 132, 151–152

  science as special, 16, 18–20, 58–59, 113, 135–138, 185–186, 202–205

  scientific community and, 49, 62–63, 81–82, 219n15

  scientific explanation and, 46

  scientific medicine and, 52–57, 115–116, 128–131

  scientific skepticism and, 157–158

  scientific virtue, 60–61

  self-correction and, 236n10

  underdetermination and, 61, 217n3

  use of term, 47–52, 216n30

  Scientific community

  accountability for fraud and, 140–145

  consequences of fraud and, 145–147

  scientific attitude and, 49, 62–63, 81–82, 219n15

  social factors and, 3–4, 18–19, 33, 48, 208n9, 244n66

  social science and, 189–190

  wisdom of crowds, 85–91

  Scientific method

  corroboration and, 33

  deductive arguments, 12–14

  falsifiability and, 21–22

  five-step method, 9–10

  inductive reasoning, 11–12, 14–15, 33–34

  justification and, 9–10, 18–19, 202

  Kuhn on, 18, 211n19

  Logical Positivism and, 11, 12, 20, 70–71, 186, 190–191, 209n5, 210n18

  methodological difference, 12

  Popper on, 3, 17–18

  problem of demarcation and, 10–11, 18, 210n18

  scientific reasoning, 33

  scientific statements, 11–12

  Scientific misconduct

  cherry picking data, 49, 82, 111, 153–154, 162–163, 173, 188, 218n5, 240n7

  data fabrication/falsification, 82–85, 133–138

  data manipulation and, 133–138

  data sharing and replication, 105–112, 189

  retraction, 98–99, 143, 230n77

  Scientific theory

  Bode’s law and, 37–38, 39, 40, 74, 203, 214n16

  critical community and, 85–91

  deductive certainty and, 41

  denialism and, 149–150

  evidence and, 34–35, 54, 188, 207n6

  falsifiability and, 29–34

  flexibility and, 30, 54

  hypotheses and, 34–35, 36, 54

  ideological beliefs and, 150

  inductive reasoning, 30–31

  justification and, 62–63, 215n28

  pattern identification, 36

  prediction and, 35, 36, 37–40

  scientific claims and, 34–41

  scientific skepticism and, 157–158

  truth and, 17, 207n6

  warrant and, 41–46

  Scientist, use of term, 232n5

  Selection bias, 144, 145, 248n23

  Semmelweis, Ignaz, 52–57, 120, 155, 169, 171, 191, 198, 224n34, 247n13

  Settle, Thomas, 88–89, 90

  Sex Offender Registry Board (SORB), 188

  Simmons, Joseph, 84, 93, 96–97

  Simon, Herman, 197, 248n25

  Simonsohn, Uri, 94, 111

  Skepticism

  CSICOP, 153–154

  denialism and, 155–159, 240n17, 242n41

  openness/closedness and, 151–155

  philosophical skepticism, 156–157

  Popper on, 157

  scientific skepticism, 157–158, 240n23

  Social constructivism, 4, 20, 23, 89–90, 196

  Social science

  behavioral economics, 84, 85, 188

  causation and, 189, 247n11

  critical community and, 189–190

  evidence and, 187–190, 194–199

  experimentation and, 141, 188, 194–199, 196–199

  as falsifiable, 186–187

  ideology and, 179–180, 187–191, 191–194

  Kuhn on, 4, 58–59

  Logical Positivism and, 190–191

  objectivity and, 190–191

  Popper on, 5, 186–187

  qualitative/quantitative work and, 190–191

  science of human behavior and, 185–191, 192, 208n11

  scientific medicine model and, 191–194

  social scientific research concerns, 185–191, 247n11, 248n20

  trustworthiness/warmth study, 194–196, 198–199

  Social Transformation of Medical Education (Starr), 124

  Solomon, Miriam, 226n26

  Speculation, 27, 170–171, 210n11, 249n11

  Stapleford, Thomas, 220n35, 221n37

  Starr, Paul, 124, 234n46

  Statistics. See also Probability

  null hypothesis, 92–93, 96, 181–182

  statcheck, 228n54

  statistical approaches to evidence, 218n8, 227n29, 227n31, 229n31

  Stemwedel, Janet, 219n23

  String theory, 38–40, 215n19, 215n21

  Strontium-90 case, 14–15, 30

  Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Kuhn), 3–4, 211n21, 244n66

  Subjectivity, 18–19, 48, 208n9, 244n66

  Sunstein, Cass, 86–87

  Taubes, Gary, 102

  Theory modification

  Duhem–Quine thesis, 19, 31, 216n36

  fallibilism doctrine and, 42–43, 157, 216n30
, 216n32

  theory choice, 18–19, 20, 48, 61, 208n9, 244n66

  Thomas, Lewis, 118, 123, 127, 129

  Trivers, Robert, 83–84, 106, 150, 189, 236n14, 237n22, 243n65

  Trustworthiness/warmth study, 194–196, 198–199

  Truth

  certainty and, 21–22, 29–34

  empirical evidence and, 21–22, 29

  science and, 4–5, 12–14, 19–20

  scientific theory and, 17, 207n6

  use of term, 42

  Underdetermination, 48, 61, 217n3

  Uniformitarianism, 166–168, 169, 171–172, 243n62

  Unscience, use of term, 26–27, 213n45, 222n14. See also Pseudoscience

  Vaccine-autism debacle, 5, 82, 143–147, 238nn42–43, 240n20

  Value of science, 48, 58–59, 90, 220n28

  Valuing science, 201–205

  Verification

  confirmation vs., 33–34, 42, 163

  Popper on, 11–12, 16, 33

  Virchow, Rudolf, 120, 233n28

  Virtue ethics, 59–61, 220n35, 221n37

  Voodoo Science (Park), 141

  Wakefield, Andrew, 5, 82, 143–147, 238nn42–43, 240n20

  Waksman, Selman, 129

  Warrant

  role of warrant, 41–46

  use of term, 41–42

  warranted belief, 44–45, 46, 116, 150, 156, 217n37

  warrant of induction, 45, 217n38, 217n40

  Wason selection task, 85–88

  Wegener, Alfred, 243n52

  Western Medical Tradition (Bynum), 122

  Wichert, Jelte, 83, 106

  Willful ignorance

  critical communities and, 85–91

  fraud and, 134–138

  group consensus and, 152

  ideology and, 151–155

  intentional deception and, 82–83, 237n29

  Sagan’s matrix and, 152–155

  Wilson, Timothy, 109, 110

  Wisdom of crowds, 85–91

  Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 25, 77

  Youngest Science (Thomas), 118, 123, 127, 129

 

 

 


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