The Scientific Attitude
Page 37
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