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CHAPTER 6
PHILOSOPHICAL ASPECTS OF
STS
Presentation by: Carmelo Miguel H. Ebreo
Physical Science Department
Overview
I. Philosophical Origins
II. Good Life and Happiness
III. Limitations of Science and Technology
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Objectives
Review the Philosophical Origins of S&T
Understand the Different Schools of Thought form Ancient Greece
Define What a Good Life Means from Past and Then
Analyse the Impacts of Technology on Society
Reflect on Human Condition in the Context of S&T
Introduction
Philosophy Means “Love of Wisdom”
Philosophy Provided Foundations For Science
Science Naturally Originated From Philosophy
Science Seeks Objective Truth Through Empiricism
Science and Technology Have Limitations
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Defining Science
“ An important part of our daily lives, maintains order in society”
Defined as “the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and
natural world through observations and experiment”
Philosophical Background
Some key figures of Metaphysics, Epistemology, Empiricism, etc.
[1] Plato [2] Aristotle [3] Rene Descartes [4] David Hume [5] Immanuel Kant
(428-348 BCE) (385-323 BCE) (1596-1650) (1711-1776) (1724-1804)
Images source:
[1] https://wellcomecollection.org/works/v9mqh7zb
[2] https://www.biography.com/scholar/aristotle
[3] https://www.biography.com/scholar/rene-descartes
[4] http://www.dailynews.lk/2019/12/23/tc/206398/david-hume-natural-comfortable-thinking?page=6
[5] https://medium.com/thedialogues/immanuel-kant-1724-1804-f736bafe364d COLLEGE OF SCIENCE
Schools of Thoughts of the Hellenistic Age (323-30
BCE)
Cynicism: denial of established norms, follow one’s natural inclinations; people must reject
all conventional needs such as power, sex, and wealth to be attuned with nature
Scepticism: people should doubt their senses; no one can be certain about the knowledge that
we have
Epicureanism/Hedonism: Pleasure and Pain are the two only important aspects of living;
happiness is achieved through pleasure
Stoicism: Virtue is the highest good based on Perfect Rationality; we best achieve happiness
when we resign ourselves to Fate
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Philosophy of Science
From Empiricism (experience-based thinking) to Logicism
[1] Ibn Sina or [2] Francis [3] Russel
Avicenna Bacon Bertrand
(980-1037) (1561-1626) (1872-1970)
Images source:
[1] https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Portrait-of-ibn-Sina-or-Avicenna-980-1037-CE_fig7_236331515
[2] https://www.biography.com/scholar/francis-bacon
[3] https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/bertrand-russell-science-philosophy/ COLLEGE OF SCIENCE
How Science is Done
Types of Reasoning
Deductive Reasoning
Inductive Reasoning
Abductive Reasoning
Images source: https://www.setthings.com/en/branches-of-science/ COLLEGE OF SCIENCE
Fields of Modern Science
Natural Social Formal
Sciences Sciences Sciences
Images sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_science
https://study.com/academy/course/natural-sciences-course.html
https://mronline.org/2018/05/22/karl-marx-the-social-sciences/
https://www.sbra.be/en/content/value-social-science-humanities-europe
https://towardsdatascience.com/best-data-science-tools-for-data-scientists-75be64144a88?gi=94eb1d250465 COLLEGE OF SCIENCE
Images source: https://www.setthings.com/en/branches-of-science/ COLLEGE OF SCIENCE
Validity of Scientific Reasoning
Image source:
https://partiallyexam
inedlife.com/2015/0
3/17/science-
technology-and-
society-iii-the-
vienna-circle/
The Vienna Circle (1907) and Berlin Circle (1920): two
groups of empiricists who maintained the Verifiability
Principle or Verificationism
Verificationism: if a principle cannot be supported by
empirical evidence, then it is regarded as meaningless
Alternatively, Karl Popper proposed the Falsification
Principle: as long as the experiment is not false, it is accepted
as the prevailing explanation to the relevant phenomena
Image source:
https://plato.stanfor
d.edu/entries/poppe
r/
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The Concept of Good Life and Happiness
Greek concept: Eudaimonia which literally means “good-spirited”. It can also mean
“human flourishing” or “prosperity”
Eudaimonia is central to the philosophy of Aristotle: Nichomachean Ethics –
eudaimonia is the end goal of human action and the highest human good; the “human
good turns out to be [rational] activity of soul in accordance with virtue”
Eudaimonia is analogous to the top most position in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:
Self-actualization is the highest personal need (top of the pyramid diagram)
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True Meaning of Technology
➢What comes first in mind?
➢ Applicationof Science on our everyday problems
➢ Something that is a machine or a process
➢It comes from the Greek word techne (refers to manufacturing and arts)
➢Techne is a part of poiesis (“bringing forth”) – something that brings concealment
into reveal
➢Poiesis is related to aletheia (“truth”)
➢From this, we can say that technology is a way that reveals the truth and
contributes to good
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Role of Technology in Our Lives
What could go wrong? Technology is amoral: it does not
tell us what is morally right or wrong.
Martin Heidegger’s points on his analysis of technology:
1. Technology is not an instrument; it is a way of revealing the
truth about the world
2. Technology is not controlled by humans; it is Technology
that controls human activities
3. Technology is dangerous in a sense that it frames our Martin Heidegger (1889-1976)
( https://thegreatthinkers.org/heidegger/)
thinking bout the world
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Summary
Science naturally came from Philosophy and it uses many paradigms to search for truths
about nature
We live our lives on the prospect of Good life and Happiness
Technology is not only a mere device, but also a way to reveal hidden truths
Science/Technology have its limitations. It only looks for objective truths
Science/Technology is amoral. It is in our hands to use it for better or worse
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References For Further Learning
For more details on philosophy
• Zalta, E. (Ed.). (2019). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford.Edu; The Metaphysics
Research Lab Center for the Study of Language and Information Stanford University Stanford, CA
94305-4115. https://plato.stanford.edu/index.html
• Mastin, L. (2019). The Basics of Philosophy: A huge subject broken down into manageable
chunks. Philosophybasics.Com. https://www.philosophybasics.com/
YouTube playlist on crash course philosophy
• CrashCourse. (2019). Crash Course Philosophy [YouTube Video]. In YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtNgK6MZucdYldNkMybYIHKR
General reference of our STS course
• Astorga, M. J., Atienza, A., Bumanglag, C., Dacumos, N., Falcatan, A., Granada, J. R.,
Labaclado, L., Mirani, A., & Omiles, M. (2019). Science, Technology, and Society: Vol. NA (pp.
179–194). T&E Publishing. (Original work published 2019)
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