The Return of Causal Powers?

Powers, capacities and dispositions (in what follows I will use these terms synonymously) have become prominent in recent debates in metaphysics, philosophy of science and other areas of philosophy. In this paper I will analyse in some detail a well-known argument from scientific practice to the existence of powers/capacities/dispositions. According to this argument the practice of extrapolating scientific knowledge from one kind of situation to a different kind of situation requires a specific interpretation of laws of nature, namely as attributing dispositions to systems. My main interest will be to discuss what characteristics these dispositions need to have in order to account for the scientific practice in question. I will furthermore assess whether the introduction of dispositions in the context of the extrapolation argument can be described as a ‘revitalization’ or as a ‘return’ to those notions repudiated by early modern philosophers. More particularly I will argue for the following claims: I. In repudiating scholastic terminology, including substantial forms with their causal powers, post-cartesian philosophers focussed on a concept of causation that was much stronger than 21st century conceptions of causation. For this reason alone, whatever ‘causal’ is supposed to mean in today’s causal powers, embracing causal powers is not a simple return to a pre-cartesian notion. II. The dispositions presupposed in scientific practice need not (and should not) be construed in causal terms (whether strong or weak). III. While some early modern philosophers contrasted the characterisation of the natural world in terms of substantial forms (and their causal powers) on the one hand and a mathematical characterization on the other and suggested that these approaches are incompatible, the dispositions postulated by the extrapolation argument to account for scientific practice are themselves characterized in mathematical terms. More precisely: The behaviour the systems are disposed to display is – at least in physics – often characterized in mathematical terms. IV. The dispositions assumed in the law-statements in scientific practice are determinable rather than determinate properties

Exploring Current Practice of Using Technology to Support Collaborative Argumentation in Science Classrooms

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how middle school science teachers enact the practice of using technology to support collaborative argumentation in their science classroom. This study employed qualitative case study and drew on data sources of interviews and observations. This study identified two themes. Six teachers regarded scientific argumentation as an important science practice, but five of them integrated this practice into their science class without formally introducing it. All teachers integrated different forms of technology to engage students in scientific argumentation. In this study, the findings suggested there is a need to provide professional development for teachers to learn about scientific argumentation. The findings can be used as a basis for the design and development of professional development training experiences for in-servic

Scientific Models of Human Health Risk Analysis in Legal and Policy Decisions

The quality of scientific predictions of risk in the courtroom and policy arena rests in large measure on how the two differences between normal practice and the legal/policy practice of science are reconciled. This article considers a variety of issues that arise in reconciling these differences, and the problems that remain with scientific estimates of risk when these are used in decisions

Islamic Contributions to Science: Historical and Contemporary Issues

The normative practice in the history of science in the West is to start with the Greeks and then jump to the European Renaissance, both studied as a background for the emergence of modern science in the seventeenth century. More considerate works devote a few pages to the Islamic scientific tradition, as a harbinger of the Greek legacy. This practice, based on the nineteenth-century Orientalism, has seriously harmed the emergence of an accurate history of science in general and the nature of contributions made by the Islamic scientific tradition to science in particular. These accounts continue to produce a caricature of a tradition that lasted longer than the Greek and the modern scientific traditions. When placed in its own historical matrix, the nature of Islamic contributions to science is a totally different story

An Epistemological Inquiry of Scientific Practice

Abstract: This study explores some theoretical issues in scientific research such as, the nature of experimentation and problems of methodology in scientific practice as well as the question of truth, rationality, objectivity and utility of scientific discoveries. The paper discusses a number of theorizing that have emerged in response to the challenge raised by the above concerns. Epistemological models of science from critical rationalists, like Popper, Kuhn, Feyerabend and the neo-pragmatic methodological orientation of Arthur Fine’s Natural Ontological Attitude (NOA) to Science, have been adopted as points of discussion on what science as an empirical discipline entail. The paper concludes that a rigorous epistemological discussion on the methodology of scientific inquiry is a desideratum for the progress of science

Traction for low back pain, the evidence is flawed : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Masters of Health Science (MHlthSci) in Environmental Health at Massey University Campus, Wellington, New Zealand

Research suggests the burden of low back pain is growing despite recent advances in investigative technology and the explosion in research. Evidence based practice is necessary within physiotherapy. However, the best evidence component must be clinically appropriate, accurate, and grounded within pertinent research. The selection of participants and the methodological designs of the studies must be appropriate to provide results valid to everyday clinical practice. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses consider primary research to critically analyse research questions, and formulate scientific conclusions on the efficacy of interventions. These research derived conclusions then inform clinical practice guidelines which are envisioned to improve clinical practice. These guidelines are also utilised by educational facilities to flavour their curriculum, and by insurance and governmental policy writers in accrediting specific interventions. Information from today will dictate the beliefs, attitudes, and practices of future graduates, and determine approved treatment options. The reported negative conclusions on the efficacy of traction as an intervention for low back pain have resulted in traction no longer being recommended within clinical practice guidelines, any remaining sporadic use questioned by professional colleagues and policy writers, and it no longer taught at undergraduate level. This is despite its long history, popularity amongst some practitioners, anecdotal evidence supporting its use in the clinical setting, and its demonstrable effects in scientific studies. This masters project argues that the cause of the disparity lies within incongruous study designs, which are not valid to clinical practice. Specifically, caused by the misappropriation of historical definitions and classifications vis-à-vis low back pain cohorts. This has resulted in substantial heterogeneity within study populations themselves, both between groups and between studies, which along with other methodological flaws and inappropriate reporting, has given rise to unwarranted conclusions. These fundamental errors have made the conclusions of scientific trials, systematic reviews, and clinical practice guidelines erroneous, and inapplicable to everyday clinical practice. The ‘evidence based’ recommendations of th

The Role of Truth in Psychological Science

In a recent paper, Haig and Borsboom explore the relevance of the theory of truth for psychological science. Although they conclude that correspondence theories of truth are best suited to offer the resources for making sense of scientific practice, they leave open the possibility that other theories might accomplish those same ends. I argue that deflationary theories of truth, which deny that there is any substantive property that unifies the class of truths, makes equally good sense of scientific practice as the correspondence theory, but at lesser theoretical cost. I also argue that the considerations Haig and Borsboom draw on are better thought of as issues relevant to realism, and thus separate from the theory of truth. I conclude that while they are correct to engage questions about what makes true the various claims that arise in psychological research, they may do so without saddling themselves with a correspondence theory

Music as Evidence for a Creator

Throughout history, mankind has made music. While music is artistic, it is also scientific and informed by natural occurrences within the physical world. Mathematical relationships between frequencies, the harmonic series, the materials necessary to build musical instruments, and naturally measured time provide bases for the musical elements of pitch, timbre, and rhythm. Though scientific discovery can inform the practice of music, the origin of music cannot be explained through scientific or evolutionary means because music is not a necessity for survival. The fact that music does exist and has natural bases suggests that music is designed, and its elements were placed in the physical world by a Creator who is beyond that which is physical