Review article
Scientific-Technological Development and the Problem of Truth
Mirko Jakić
; University of Split, Faculty of Philosophy, Split, Croatia
Franjo Sokolić
; University of Split, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Education, Split, Croatia
Dragan Poljak
orcid.org/0000-0003-1205-4842
; University of Split, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Construction, Split, Croatia
Abstract
Natural science aims to deal with physical reality independent of human action, even of human existence. Scientific theory takes form of the mathematical formulation pertaining to certain type of events out of which is possible to predict certain events by deduction. Reductive, generalized tendency of science implies a course towards the insight of natural phenomena, penetration beneath tissue of manifestation of final constituents of the substance, somehow reducing the biology to chemistry, and then chemistry to physics. The idea of technological progress rules the modern world, though an uncertainty regarding the technical effects of new technologies is accompanied with even more uncertainty regarding their impact to society. At a glance, one necessarily concludes that the growth of the human knowledge is cumulative in nature and clearly directed towards the objective truth. While Popper’s falsificationism allows a scientific progress to a certain extent, Kuhn’s social relativism stands against it. Regardless of the achievement of the science, particularly, as far as the technological advancement is concerned, the question is how much the science approaches the truth itself. The development of contemporary physics, especially through the rise of quantum mechanics, leads to an entirely new relation to basic questions in philosophy of science. The question is whether it is necessary to abandon the principle of causality and locality, respectively. Causality is abandoned in Copenhagen interpretation, but is preserved in Bohm’s interpretation. Experiments for verification of Bell’s inequality show impossibility of abandoning of non-locality. Regardless of the fact that Einstein and some other prominent scientists refused to accept this idea, it seems we should adopt it. What kind of the world is the one without locality? What can we say about such a world, at all? It would mean that everything is connected and that everything is dependent on everything, i.e. that we must abandon the very idea of the physical reductionism, on which the natural science is based and to accept holism. Thus, it is necessarily to consider central theoretical-epistemological question on the truth from the critical view of the contemporary philosophy of science, with particular emphasis to logical positivism, social relativism and holism. Since technology, as a consequence of scientific research, significantly influences modern time, it is, vice versa, necessary to point out the impact of technology to the scientific truth itself.
Keywords
development of science; growth of knowledge; Popper’s falsificationism; Kuhn’s social relativism; objective reality; notion of truth
Hrčak ID:
100680
URI
Publication date:
26.2.2013.
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