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Science + Pseudoscience (NOTES) This Editable Document includes:✓ Clear + Organized + Accessible Content✓ CURRATED ARTICLES: Values & Technology✓ FREE DIGITAL READINGSTopics: Science & PseudoscienceKarl Popper: Science, Conj...

1️⃣ Intro to Philosophy of Science: What separates genuine science from pseudoscience? We tackle the demarcation problem and explore how feminist epistemology challenges the myth of pure, value-free objectivity.
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🧵 2/3

Review of Hempel on the "received view" I haven't updated the blog for a while, but I have been reading Carnap, Hempel, Nagel and others on the syntactic conception of theories. It is quite striking how they appear caricatured by the next generation when you go back to the original texts, but doing so also sheds light on the semantic view, for we can see its premisses appearing in the later texts (in particular Hempel and Nagel). Here are a few comments on three articles from Hempel. ## Hempel (1952) "Fundamentals of concept formation in empirical science" This is a long, but accessible article that presents very clearly the project of logical empiricism. Scientific theories are able to unify a variety of empirical laws and suggest new ones (something presented vividly in Nagel's "The structure of science" (ch. 5) and Carnap's "Philosophical foundations of physics" (ch. 23)), but the way to do so requires introducing new technical terms, and the project is to _explicate_ these terms. > In the initial stages of scientific inquiry, descriptions as well as generalizations are stated in the vocabulary of everyday language. The growth of a scientific discipline, however, always brings with it the development of a system of specialized, more or less abstract, concepts and of a corresponding technical terminology. An example from another of Hempel's articles is how "wood floats on water" is less generalisable than "solids float on liquids of higher density", that uses a new technical term, density. We should _explicate_ it. An explication is a concept from Carnap, and it corresponds to what we would call today conceptual engineering. Hempel explains: > An explication of a given set of terms [...] aims at reducing the limitations, ambiguities and inconsistencies of their ordinary usage by propounding a reinterpretation intended to enhance the clarity and precision of their meanings as well as their ability to function in hypotheses and theories with explanatory and predictive force. (12) From an empiricist point of view, this means connecting them to a vocabulary that is already understood. The article then goes through all the notorious difficulties of doing so, notably the fact that terms are often dispositional and the fact that theoretical quantities are defined on a continuum while observations are finite. In the end this forces us to be very liberal. We cannot expect correspondence rules to follow specific patterns, such as strict definitions or reduction sentences. What is interesting with respect to the usual criticisms of logical empiricism is the following: * Clearly, there is no question of first order logic; it's quite obvious that Hempel and Carnap (on whose work this article draw heavily) want to account for all advanced mathematics, including real numbers, etc. * Both Carnap and Hempel consider the possibility of introducing modal operators ("causal modality") in order to analyse dispositions. Their only problem is, apparently, that modal logic was too poorly developed at the time. They are not radical Humeans! * The basic observation terms are not purely psychological, they must be publicly accessible; they can go beyond direct observations to the extent that they are antecedently understood, which includes those used with high intersubjective agreement by scientific experimenters in measurements. (Carnap also claims that the division of vocabulary is partly conventional, and Nagel that it is a question of degree, see references above). * Hempel and Carnap are of course fully aware that correspondence rules cannot take the form of strict definitions, but even if correspondence rules are liberalised, it is still possible to have well defined criteria of empirical significance to exclude pure metaphysics, so it is not a reductio ad absurdum of the project on their view. * Actually, the liberalisation of correspondence rules is not viewed as a defect, it is actually viewed as an interesting development, for it can capture interesting features of science, notably the plasticity and indispensability of theoretical systems. This last point is much more salient in Hempel's "theoretician's dilemma" article to which I now turn. ## Hempel (1958) The theoretician's dilemma This is a more technical article focused on a specific problem. If a theory has empirical significance, this is because it has empirical consequences, which implies, paradoxically, that theoretical terms are dispensable: we might do as well with all the empirical consequences instead of the theoretical system. On the other hand, if a theory has no empirical significance, its terms are dispensable as well, because the theory is useless. So, why do we need technical terms in science? After a long detour through many different issues (correspondence rules, Craig theorem, etc.) Hempel's response lies precisely in the fact that correspondence rules are not strict definitions or reduction sentences. This means that theoretical terms cannot be substituted by equivalent empirical formula. This is what provides their value: they are _plastic_ , the theory--world interface can be extended or revised in many ways, guided by its postulates. Here I was quite surprised by how realist, quite close to externalists like Kripke or Putnam indeed, he sounds in the following passage: > whatever observational criteria of application the scientist may provide are intended by him to describe just symptoms or indications of the presence of the entity in question, but not to give an exhaustive characterization of it. The scientist does indeed wish to leave open the possibility of adding to his theory further statements involving his theoretical terms--statements which may yield new interpretative connections between theoretical and observational terms; and yet he will regard these as additional assumptions about the same hypothetical entities to which the theoretical terms referred before the expansion. This way of looking at theoretical terms appears to have definite heuristic value. It stimulates the invention and use of powerfully explanatory concepts for which only some links with experience can be indicated at the time, but which are fruitful in suggesting further lines of research that may lead to additional connections with the data of direct observation. Now the crucial drawback of this liberalisation is that correspondence rules cannot be taken to be _meaning_ postulates, since they have empirical consequences! For example, if we extend a theory to new measurement techniques, this assumes that old and new techniques give the same result when both are applicable, but this is an empirical claim. This was already noted in the 1952 article, as well as before that by Carnap. If correspondence rules are not meaning postulates, but empirical claim, not analytic, but synthetic, we have a problem of intelligibility for theoretical terms. They are no more defined. A possibility, considered by Ramsey and later Carnap, is to bite the bullet. Theoretical terms are _not_ intelligible, and therefore, we should not use them! At least for reconstruction purposes, we should quantify on predicates instead. This is the original role of Ramsey sentences. But Hempel isn't satisfied, and leaves this problem open at the end of the article. ## The rise of the semantic view (Hempel "On the 'Standard conception' of theories" , 1970) Twelve years later, Hempel returns to the problem of intelligibility of theoretical terms, and there are interesting newcomers in the discussion. He mentions notably Nagel, for whom a theory is associated not only with postulates and correspondence rules, but also with a _model_. In Nagel (The structure of science, 1961), this mostly corresponds to the mental pictures that we associated with the theory, for example, we imagine the molecules of a gas behaving like billard balls (there are antecedents of this idea in Hesse's "Models in Physics" article from 1953, cited by Nagel) . The point is, even if the connection to direct experience is thin, there might be other ways to make theoretical terms intelligible. He cites Sellars: > the conceptual texture of theoretical terms in scientific use is far richer and more finely grained than the texture generated by the explicitly listed postulates Another related aspect is that Hempel is more critical of the division of vocabulary between observational and theoretical, noting that terms such as "position" are both observational and theoretical. Again, this could help in "picturing" the theory. Now comes the fatal move to go to a semantic view. What if theoretical terms were intelligible only in virtue of the theoretical postulates, and associated model, without any need for an empirical interpretation? What if scientific theories were not empirical systems, but purely structural ones? Theoretical laws mere implicit definitions of these terms, in the same way as the axioms of artihmetic are sometimes taken to define numbers implicitly, as whatever satisfied the axioms? This move is attributed by Hempel to Suppes. In effect, this is a reversal of the intuitive idea that theoretical postulates (e.g. the laws of Newton) are _synthetic_ (they claim something about the world) while correspondence rules linking them to experience are analytic (they define them). We saw that the latter must be false. Then perhaps the postulates are actually analytic, because to be a Newtonian force is just something formal, to have some conceptual relations to Newtonian mass, which is just as formal. These are nodes in set-theoretical models. The synthetic claim is actually provided by correspondence rules, to the effect that some part of nature is also a model of the theoretical system, or isomorphic to one. We see this kind of framing in many semanticists (to the extent that some of them even deny that a theory can be true or false: it can only be applicable or not!). This is what is really meant when semanticists claim that we should characterise a theory by means of their models: we should take the theoretical postulates to be implicit _definitions_ of abstract structures, analytic statements that is, and correspondence rules or whatever postulate of theory--world correspondence to carry all the cognitive content. Although I already got the main idea behind the semantic view that postulates describe structures, I found it illuminating to be able to situate it in this way in relation to the problem of intelligibility of theoretical terms that affects the syntactic view. We can see that in a sense, externalism about meaning, neo-essentialism and causal theories of reference are in direct concurrence with the semantic view (since they provide a different solution to the same problem): something that is not often noted! This made the semantic view more palatable to me, and I guess I should be thankful to Hempel for this.

I migrated and united all my blogs to a new address, and also posted a brief review of three Hempel articles on the "received view" of theories.

personal.us.es/qruyant/blog/2026/04/rev...

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Review of Hempel on the "received view" I haven't updated the blog for a while, but I have been reading Carnap, Hempel, Nagel and others on the syntactic conception of theories. It is

I migrated and united all my blogs to a new address, and also posted a brief review of three Hempel articles on the "received view" of theories.

personal.us.es/qruyant/blog...

#philosophyofscience

Book cover of Sustainability and the Philosophy of Science by Jeffry L. Ramsey, alongside the text ‘Hassan Masoud reviews Sustainability and the Philosophy of Science.’ Published in Routledge Focus, volume 46, number 1, February 2026.

Hassan Masoud reviews 'Sustainability and the Philosophy of Science' by Jeffry L. Ramsey—an incisive look at how philosophy of science shapes sustainability thinking. Read the review in the latest issue of PiR: journals.uvic.ca/index.php/pi... #BookReview #Sustainability #PhilosophyOfScience

“It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brains fall out.”
― Carl Sagan

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🧩 #MultiperspectiveDualism – A New #Theory for the #NaturalSciences 🔬

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Nun endlich wieder fürs Studium mit umfassender Einleitung, rechtzeitig noch im #WomenHistoryMonth. Eines der Bücher der Aufklärung, von dem nicht nur #Kant profitierte. #DGBWomen #WomenHistoryMonth #philsky #philosophyofscience @unipaderborn.bsky.social www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...

You Are A Simulation: The Quantum Evidence That Changes Everything 🚨 Ever feel like you’re living in a glitch? Stick around, because by the end of this episode, you’ll be questioning if your morning coffee was real or just a perfectly rendered texture. 🧬 In this mind-bending deep dive, we’re cracking the source code of the universe. Is reality an objective truth, or are we just characters in a cosmic RPG? We synthesize quantum physics, information theory, and high-stakes logic to explore the Simulation Hypothesis—the theory that our world is a digital construct created by a post-human civilization. From the observer effect to the edges of base reality, we are dismantling everything you think you know. 🕹️ Inside the Source Code: - The Quantum Observer Effect: Why do particles only 'choose' a state when measured? Is the universe simply optimizing processing power like a video game rendering only what’s in view? - Nick Bostrom’s Trilemma: The controversial logic proving we’re likely living in a computer simulation. - Digital Physics: Exploring the evidence that matter and gravity are actually derived from binary information. - The False Dichotomy: If the universe is mathematically indistinguishable from a rendering engine, does the word 'real' even have a meaning? Stop being a passive NPC in your own life. Whether you're a fan of theoretical physics, artificial intelligence, or just love a good existential crisis, this episode is your red pill. We’re moving past the 'What If' and looking at the 'Why It’s Probable.' Is it fate, or is it just the latest patch update? ✨ Ready to see behind the curtain? Smash that Follow button and share this episode to help others wake up from the program. Let’s glitch the system together! 👇  

📣 New Podcast! "You Are A Simulation: The Quantum Evidence That Changes Everything" on @Spreaker #aiandreality #consciousness #digitalphysics #emergentgravity #holographicuniverse #informationtheory #itfrombit #lazyrendering #matrixvibes #metaphysics #nickbostrom #philosophyofscience

LMU's Chair of Philosophy of Science, Prof. Stephan Hartmann ( @stephanhartmann.bsky.social ) recently gave a talk at Harvard University's Black Hole Initiative colloquium, on "The Open Systems View". Check it out here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0Na... #philosophy #philosophyofscience

🔬 #Physics Puzzles – Exciting puzzle questions explained simply! 🤓

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Ever pondered how knowledge takes shape? "Epistemic cultures" (Q60666266) explores how different fields create truth—from lab notebooks to philosophical debates. Pioneered by sociologists, this concept now fuels AI ethics discussions! #PhilosophyOfScience #KnowledgeProduction #Interdisciplinary

When Imagine Speaking

When Imagine Speaking

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Sueñ Profundo Cerebro

Sueñ Profundo Cerebro

#ScienceCommunication #EmbodiedCognition #NeuralMarkers #N400 #Proprioception #PhilosophyOfScience #CollectiveBehavior #Allostasis

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Quando Córtex Parietal

Quando Córtex Parietal

#CognitiveERP #PhilosophyOfScience #MMN #HumanBehavior #Allostasis #CollectiveBehavior #CriticalThinking #BrainWaves

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Desenhar Experimentos Hipnose

Desenhar Experimentos Hipnose

#CognitiveNeuroscience #EmbodiedCognition #HumanBehavior #CognitiveBias #BrainBodyConnection #Neuropsychology #PhilosophyOfScience #PsychologyInsights

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When Sound Guides

When Sound Guides

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Quando Som Guia

Quando Som Guia

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How Design Experiments

How Design Experiments

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Desenhar Experimentos Hipnose

Desenhar Experimentos Hipnose

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Quando Imaginamos Falar

Quando Imaginamos Falar

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Scientific Theories Also

Scientific Theories Also

#KnowledgeSharing #CognitiveScience #CollectiveIntelligence #CollectiveBehavior #PhilosophyOfScience #BrainScience #FutureOfEducation #MMN

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How Design Experiments

How Design Experiments

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Buscar Perder Zona

Buscar Perder Zona

#Neuropsychology #P300 #SlowThinking #PhilosophyOfScience #MMN #CognitiveBias #EEGResearch #SocialNeuroscience

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Semantic Repetition Narrative

Semantic Repetition Narrative

#Neuropsychology #PhilosophyOfScience #ScienceCommunication #EEG #FutureOfEducation #FastThinking #AttentionEconomy #HumanBehavior

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Hacia Neurociencia Decolonial

Hacia Neurociencia Decolonial

#SlowThinking #PredictiveBrain #CognitiveScience #N400 #PhilosophyOfScience #PhilosophyOfMind #Neurobiology #InterdisciplinaryScience

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Word Neural Unit

Word Neural Unit

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Repetición Semántica Secuestro

Repetición Semántica Secuestro

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Mmn Marcadores Senso

Mmn Marcadores Senso

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Infraestructura Pertenencia

Infraestructura Pertenencia

#PhilosophyOfScience #AttentionEconomy #Heuristics #CognitiveBias #BrainAndBody #BrainScience #MentalModels #SocialNeuroscience

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