Please see the source code for details. This page is the general description of the course and suggested expectations for both the student and the expectations of the teacher. Approaches to Science Inductivism - Scientific theories are derived from the facts of experience acquired by observation and experiment. Opinion and personal preferences speculative imaginings have no place in science. Scientific Knowledge is reliable knowledge because it is objectively proven knowledge.
Speculative theories are to be rigorously and ruthlessly tested by observation and experiment.
Theories that fail must be eliminated and replaced by further speculative conjectures. Rationalism versus Relativism Extreme rationalist assert that there is a single, timeless, universal criterion with reference to which the relative merits of rival theories are to be assessed. Relativists denies that there is a universal, a historical standard of rationality with respect to which one theory can be judged better than another. What is better or worse with respect to scientific theories will vary from individual to individual or from community to community. Feyerabend's Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge - Feyerabend makes the case that none of the existing methods of science have been successful.