Blog 7

1. What I understand from today's lesson?

Science is neither good nor bad. It depends on how we use it. For example, some people use science to harm others.

Underdetermination:

-refers to situations where the evidence is insufficient to identify which theory we should hold about that evidence. Put it simpler, underdetermination has many ways to explain the same things.

-is a relation between evidence and theory

-is the phenomenon by which there are at least two different or alternative theories that fit the same data set

-this is exemplified by the classic example in Mathematics, where we are able to draw two very different lines that intersect on all data points in a graph. 

Source: Google ImageFrom the picture, we can see the intersect is at (-1,3)

Source: Youtube 

This video basically tells us about what is underdetermination.

-underdetermination occurs wherever there are empirically equivalent theories. For example, are we able to tell that is God exist in this world? Some people might say yes, and some people might say no. So, we are not able to tell is God really exist in this world.

-underdetermination of scientific theories occurs whenever the evidence of data that is used to support the theory 1 and theory 2.

            -If evidence appears that supports one theory rather than another, it does not entail that the theory is the true one. Instead, the other theory may be supported as true by modification of is background assumptions. The consequence of underdetermination in science is that it becomes difficult to tell if there are true scientific claims and theories, and scientific realism is threatened.

-Instrumentalism:

-views theories as useful and intellectual tools to predict future phenomena and organization of observations.

Empiricist:

-The theory is true or false, but we cannot tell which.

-avoid committing oneself one way or the other.      

In short, there are 2 main school of thought which are realism and anti-realism. Realism is aims to prove things and views that theories are either true or false and to specify for what kinds of cases the inference is justifiable. On the other hand, anti-realism is divided into instrumentalism and empiricism. Instrucmentalism means that theories are not seen as true/false, instead they are seen on their usefulness. Empiricism states that theory is true or false but we cannot tell which.

Lastly, there is a very good website to refer as the words and sentences are easy to understand compare to the actual reading. https://lishanchan.wordpress.com/2012/09/27/underdetermination/

2. What is the one thing I need help in?

What is the difference between hypothetical deductive model of confirmation and hypothetico-deductive method of confirmation? Besides that, I need a brief overview of chapter 5: underdetermination for me to understand better. 

3. How am I going to use this new knowledge to teach nature of science in the future?

By attending today’s lesson, I have the basic knowledge for me to teach my students in future. Since, this topic is a bit difficult to understand, I will also ask my students to search extra information on their own and have group discussion. I will simplify the scientific terms that I have learnt today for my students such as instrumentalism and empiricism.