This seminar will explore diverse processes through which knowledge is acquired in the physical sciences, in mathematics, and in the study of human psychology. We will consider fundamental epistemological questions that arise in these disciplines: Can knowledge ever be objective? Is it fundamentally an individual construct, or a social construct? How do different human cultures develop it? Is it possible to distinguish among beliefs, warranted beliefs, hypotheses, theories, and knowledge? How?
Discussions will focus on roles played in these fields of study (both historically and currently) by empirical data, qualitative and quantitative; by reasoning and rational deduction; by cognitive and epistemological obstacles; by language; and by biases, prejudices and preconceptions. We will compare, and contrast sources of truth and validity that are recognized as legitimate, asking what the word “really” mean in different contexts.
Students will also study how some widely shared beliefs in mathematics, science, and psychology have been discredited or superseded. We will draw from historical and more recent examples. For instance, in mathematics non-Euclidean geometry superseded belief in the absolute truth of Euclid’s postulates; more recently, Gödel’s theorems torpedoed earlier conceptions of mathematical certainty. In physics, quantum mechanics superseded belief in the deterministic nature of dynamical processes, and relativity superseded Newtonian mechanics (which centuries earlier superseded Aristotelian physics). In psychology, strictly behaviorist theories have (mostly) yielded to cognitive science, information processing models, and theories of human emotion and motivation. In biology, belief in “scientific racism” has been wholly discredited. How and why did these changes come about? What can we expect in the future?