一些科学哲学的思考.DOC

03’秋 社會研究方法 社會系 關秉寅老師 PAGE PAGE 9 一些科學哲學上的思考 科學知識是什麼？幾種不同的觀點 1. Wallace (1979: 18): Elements in the Scientific Process “There are at least four ways of generating, and testing the truth of, empirical statement: ‘authoritarian,’ ‘mythical,’ ‘logico-rational’ and ‘scientific.’ A principal distinction among these is the manner in which each vests confidence in the producer of the statement that is alleged to be true (that is, one asks, Who says so?); in the procedure by which the statement was produced (that is, one asks, How do you know?); and in the effect of the statement (that is, one asks, What difference does it makes?).” (Wallace, 1979: 11) “….. [A]mong these four modes of generating and testing empirical statements, the scientific mode combines a primary reliance on the observational effects of the statements in question, with a secondary reliance on the procedures (methods) used to generate them. Relatively little weight is placed on characteristics of the producer per se; but when they are involved, achieved rather than ascribed characteristics are stressed - not for their own sakes, but as prima facie certifications of effect and procedure claims.” (Wallace, 1979: 13) 2. Collins (1979): Why is Sociology not a Science? “My contention is that sociology can be a successful science and that it is well on the way to becoming so. The problem is to understand just what is involved in this. There are a number of different goals that have been set for sociology (and for the social sciences generally); As things stand now, we have badly confused the explanatory, practical, ideological, and aesthetic aspects of the social sciences.” (Collins, 1979:1) “The scientific ideal is to explain everything, and to do it by making causal statements which are ultimately based upon experience. The most powerful scientific theory is the one that can get the most explanatory mileage out of the most concise body of principles. Science is a way of extrapolating from things we