In the 1920s, David Hilbert set out a challenge to himself and his fellow mathematicians that would become known as "Hilbert's Program". In essence, Hilbert's goal was metamathematical: to examine the whole of mathematics, from the base up, and to ensure the entire system had a logical, consistent foundation. While Hilbert's grand plan was a failure, and may have actually set mathematics back (I may explain why I think this is the case in a later post), thinking about it has inspired me to set out a similar plan. Being an ambitious man, however, my plan will encompass all of the theoretical natural sciences (of which I consider mathematics to be a particular example), and of course my plan will attempt to take an Objectivist approach at the issue, rather than a formalist approach as Hilbert took. Over my next few posts, I'll outline the specifics of my plan for each of the following fields, and may add more to each post as I gain more in-depth knowledge of the field:
Philosophy, particularly epistemology (not a physical science, but the foundation thereof)
Mathematics (as the science of measurement, definitely a member of the physical sciences)
Physics
Astronomy
Chemistry
Earth Sciences (geology, meterology, etc.)
Life sciences (general biology, neuroscience, theoretical medicine, epidemeology, etc.)
EDIT: I realize I forgot to say why I'm doing this. In essence, I think that scientists and mathematicians are putting a lot of effort into dead-ends (or at least inefficient ends). Additionally, I think a lot of what's put out as science isn't really science, and a lot of people (particularly laypeople) are being misled because this information has the prestige of SCIENCE.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
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3 comments:
Thanks for participating in the carnival!
The general consensus in the philosophy of science is that demarcation of what constitutes science is a useless and effectively intractable goal.
Most philosophers tend to agree that there is no set of criteria that offer what is necessary and sufficient to be considered a science to any satisfactory degree.
Cite: Laudan, Larry. 1983. “The Demise of the Demarcation Problem”, in Robert S. Cohen and Larry Laudan (Ed.), Physics, Philosophy and Psychoanalysis: Essays in Honor of Adolf Grünbaum, Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Volume 76, Reidel, Dordrecht, pp. 111–127.
Keep working ,great job!
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