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Newton's contribution to science
Newton and contribution in science field
Newton and contribution in science field
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In the essay “Studies In the Logic of Explanation”, Carl Hempel attempts to break down scientific explanation into its fundamental components in pursuit of defining what it means to explain a phenomenon scientifically. In doing so, he proposes a set of rigorous criteria that he believes constitute a true explanation. He starts by separating an explanation “into two major constituents, the explanandum and the explanans” (136). The explanandum is the phenomenon that is to be explained, while the explanans represent a series of statements which “account for the phenomenon” (137). According to Hempel, the explanans can be further subdivided into particular antecedent conditions and certain general laws which can be combined in such a way to …show more content…
However, by making the assumption that all statements are universally either “true” or “false”, he dismisses perfectly logical scientific explanations which are merely outdated. Specifically, he is saying that explanations that were previously accepted by the scientific community but are no longer due to “ampler evidence now available...was not-and had never been-a correct explanation” (138). This is simply not true, as the “correctness” of an explanation is not binary; that is, there may exist some explanations which provide partial explanations which may be perfectly accurate in some contexts, but misleading or even wrong in others. I will refer to this as the context dependency of scientific laws. A good example of such a phenomenon with more than one correct explanation is how electricity is produced. Electricity can be explained as the motion of electrons, which are subatomic particles that circulate around the nucleus of an atom. The Bohr model gives this explanation, claiming that an atom looks akin to our solar system. Recently, more accurate models like the Schroedinger model have come through to state that the Bohr model is not entirely accurate, and that the existence of electrons around atoms in certain places is based on probabilistic models. Despite this new information, the Bohr model can still be used to explain electricity and the motion of …show more content…
Isaac Newton and Aristotle both conjectured how motion of bodies work by offering their own explanations. Aristotle wanted to answer the question of why a ball tossed into the air will seemingly always stop at some point, so he conjectured that it is a natural tendency (i.e. a general law) for all objects to want to come to rest (Smoot). As Newton comes along, he suggests that objects will always travel in a straight line at a constant velocity, and that the existence of friction (or some other outside force) is what causes objects to stop at some point. While these statements may seem contradictory, as the Bohr Model and more recent models may also seem contradictory, it is natural to assume that at least one of these statements must be false. However, making such a claim again ignores the physical context in which the phenomenon resides. Aristotle’s conjecture is true, as long as the ball is always thrown on Earth where there is an atmosphere. Therefore, it can be seen that the truth of a general law is dependent on what one means by the word always. Newton’s laws may be more true on a broader level, but even they fail when an object is moving near the speed of light. Hence, Newtonian mechanics is only true if one assumes that the
If nonphysical explanations have always failed and been replaced by physical explanations that succeeded, then we have good reason to think that nonphysical explanations will always fail, and physical explanations will always succeed.
He developed three laws of motion which many examples are demonstrated throughout this movie. Sir Isaac Newton three laws of motion are.An object in motion tends to stay in motion, an object at rest tends to stay at rest, unless the object is acted upon by an outside force. II. The acceleration of an object acted on by an unbalanced force is inversely proportional to mass. | Fnet = Mass Acceleration |.III. Every action has an equal or opposite reaction. Some examples of Newton laws are when they reach the speed for orbit around the earth, gas molecules pushing the shuttle forward in space, and the force needed to escape Earth atmosphere. .When the space shuttle reached the critical speed for orbit around the earth, the astronauts of Apollo 13 shut down the engines. They did this because they know of Newton First Law that if an object that is in motion will stay in motion. When the engines are shut down, the space shuttle will no longer be accelerating. If there is no acceleration, then there is constant speed as there will be no force acting against the motion in space. When a centripetal force is applied from Earth gravity the space shuttle will continue forever
Since the mid-20th century, a central debate in the philosophy of science is the role of epistemic values when evaluating its bearing in scientific reasoning and method. In 1953, Richard Rudner published an influential article whose principal argument and title were “The Scientist Qua Scientist Makes Value Judgments” (Rudner 1-6). Rudner proposed that non-epistemic values are characteristically required when making inductive assertions on the rationalization of scientific hypotheses. This paper aims to explore Rudner’s arguments and Isaac Levi’s critique on his claims. Through objections to Levi’s dispute for value free ideal and highlighting the importance of non-epistemic values within the tenets and model development and in science and engineering,
... a theory should be able to explain a wide variety of things, not just only what it was intended to explain.
The infinite regress is one argument that philosophers employ when explaining justifications and knowledge in an evidential manner. Suppose you consider the justified belief, P, you might begin to wonder as to where P's justification originally stems from. If P is not a basic justified belief , but rather a nonbasic justified belief (meaning that these belief do not need support of other beliefs in order to be deemed true), it would have...
Scientists of this time weren’t always as educated as they potentially could have been. Many of their discoveries were proven to be true many times, and have even came to the extent of becoming theories, and or
Prediction is often an important feature of scientific knowledge, but understanding is also a prime purpose. Additionally, reason is utilised throughout the methods of hypothesis-deduction and induction to perform observations in reflection of existing theories and to formulate general theories from existing observations. “Suspension of disbelief”, although is less essential in the natural sciences in comparison with history, similarly asserts uncertainty in the scientist’s belief in certain assumptions or theories, and thus challenges the extent to which knowledge developed in the natural sciences is justifiable. However, knowledge in the natural sciences can also be discovered through the absence of belief. In reference to the title, “suspension of disbelief” in the natural sciences can, in certain situations aid in the formation of knowledge in the natural sciences, though similarly to history, challenges the justifiability of
The Deductive-Nomological (D-N) Model gives an account of explanation through its basic form, the Covering Law Model. The D-N Model asks the basic question “What is a scientific explanation?” The aim of this paper is to answer that question and further develop the definition of an explanation by problematizing the D-N Model’s account of explanation, providing a solution to one of those problems, and then further problematizing that solution. By examining the details of an example that the D-N Model explains well, we can see why this model was popular in the first place before describing two of its major problems. Then, by looking at Wesley Salmon’s account of scientific explanation, we can see just how problematic the flaws in the D-N Model
A world that can be explained by reasoning, however faulty, is a familiar world. But in a universe that
I am not saying that Newton’s and other theories like it are wrong, I am saying that we put too much faith in something that is not absolute, unfortunately we have no other choice.
It is important to be able to distinguish scientific, philosophical, religious, and speculative explanations and causes apart from each other. To be able to discern the four apart we need to first understand what they are and what their purpose is.
His argument is that there is not a valid enough reason for believing in the existence of hypothetical things or objects we cannot see with our own eyes because looking back at history there are many examples of theories that were falsified later on. “Laudan produced a list of now abandoned theories that once enjoyed predictive and explanatory success. Many of these theories featured theoretical terms, such as phlogiston, ether and caloric, which were supposed to refer to various kinds of unobservable” (Ladyman, 2002, P.231). In addition Laudan identified that there is stability behind scientific theories that observe some sort of phenomena in contrast to when there is an unobservable phenomenon it has no stability. Basically, in other words scientific theories cannot exist if it is an unobservable phenomenon. Newton’s theory of physics is a perfect example of this. His theory was highly successful but he made assumptions that are inconsistent with general relativity therefore meaning that majority of the theories we know today are most likely to be
In the natural world, physicists find new discoveries constantly. Some of these discoveries include the study of motion and forces. The well-known scientist, Isaac Newton, came up with the three laws of motion, which state rules and facts about the movement of an object. Our textbook states the laws of motion, as ?A body in motion will remain in motion at a constant speed and direction unless an outside force acts upon it. The net force acting upon an object is directly related to the mass and acceleration of the object resulting acceleration is in the direction of the net force, which is the vector sum of all forces acting upon the object. Finally, the third law of motion states that when one object applies a force to another, the other object applies the same amount of force back to the first object, but in opposite directions.? With these laws of motion, we can understand in detail how our world works. Also, that the movement of an object is more complex than a simple push. This discovery is taught to students all over the world because of its great importance and will continue to enhance the knowledge of the mystery of our earth.
Sir Isaac Newton is the man well known for his discoveries around the term, Motion. He came up with three basic ideas, called Newton’s three laws of motion.
“Don’t worry if your theory doesn’t agree with the observations, because they are probably wrong.’ But if your theory does not agree with the 2nd law of thermodynamics then it is in serious trouble”.