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11. natural sciences
This document provides an overview of topics and readings for Week 11 of a natural science course focusing on evolution. It includes: 1. An introduction listing the topics of evolution, key figures Charles Darwin and Copernicus, and audio notes on debates about the compatibility of religion and science. 2. A list of 6 reading assignments from pages 153-189. 3. Three main ideas for the week: 1) Scientific knowledge evolves through observation, experimentation and reasoning. 2) Science reveals aspects of human identity and cognition. 3) Religious and scientific ways of knowing often conflict for various reasons. The document outlines the schedule and content being covered in the natural science course for the week.
11. natural sciences
- 1. Week 11: NaturalScience AIO: Evolution PP: Charles Darwin, Copernicus Special audio notes on: Intelligence Squared Debate: ―Religion and Science are incompatible‖ Ted Talk: Ben Goldacre, ―Bad Science‖ • Readings: 1. 153-157 2. 158-164 3. 165-170 4. 171-176 5. 177-182 6. 183-189
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- 3. Week 11: NaturalScience AIO: Evolution PP: Charles Darwin, Copernicus Special audio notes on: Intelligence Squared Debate: ―Religion and Science are incompatible‖ Ted Talk: Ben Goldacre, ―Bad Science‖ • Readings: 1. 153-157 2. 158-164 3. 165-170 4. 171-176 5. 177-182 6. 183-189
- 4. 3 Ideas forthe Week 1. Scientific knowing is an evolving system that limits uncertainty through observation, experimentation, and inductive/deductive reasoning. 2. Science as a language, ethos, and community reveals innate features of human identity and processing. 3. Scientific objectivity and cultural diversity, particularly religious knowing, are often at odds for various reasons. Why?
- 6. • The mostbeautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. – Who said this?
- 8. What is Science? •From the following quotes, what 5 ideas emerge concerning what Science actually is? Construct a single sentence def. 1. Real science is a revision in progress, always. It proceeds in fits and starts of ignorance. -Stuart Firestein 2. Science does not purvey absolute truth, science is a mechanism. It’s a way of trying to improve your knowledge of nature, it’s a system for testing your thoughts against the universe and seeing whether they match. – Isaac Asimov 3. Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge. – Carl Sagan 4. One thing I have learned in a long life: that all our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike — and yet it is the most precious thing we have. –Hans Muhsam 5. All of science is uncertain and subject to revision. The glory of science is to imagine more than we can prove. - Freeman Dyson 6. One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done… - Marie Curie 7. Science alone of all the subjects contains within itself the lesson of the danger of belief in the infallibility of the greatest teachers of the preceding generation. – Richard Feynman
- 9. We live ina society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology. -Carl Sagan
- 12. ―Modern‖ Knowledge • Whattypes of knowing exist in the modern world without science? • How might different portraits and constraints of Science change our views of the world? • Is all Science ―progress‖? • How much of our understanding of Science is a reliance and assumption of workability (pragmatic) rather than true ―knowing‖?
- 13. ―Types‖ of Science? •Natural Sciences: – Space science – Earth Science – Life Science – Chemistry – Physics • List 10 sub-categories in your notes
- 14. Science and TOKKnower • Science is a human activity – Involves different activies including thinking, observing and communicating – Reason and Emotion; Sense perception; Language; Reason
- 15. Scientific Paradigm(s) • Aparadigm is a set of practices that define a scientific discipline at any particular period of time • A thought pattern in an area of knowledge • Underline the number of different ―paradigms‖ mentioned today.
- 16. Scientific Method • FromAristotle to today, humans have sought a pattern to our world encounters • Developed alonside architecture, philosoph y and history • Roger Bacon (13th century) and the repeating cycle. • Karl Popper (20th c.) and critical rationalism.
- 19. The Bedrock: Observation •Ways of Knowing: – Put order from most to least important regarding ―observation‖ • Sense perception, emotion, r eason, and intuition • Historical: – How has our understanding, our ability, and our limitations of observation in science developed over time?
- 20. Quite so! Youhave not observed. And yet you have seen. That is just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, because I have both seen and observed.
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- 22. Hypothesis • Order thefollowing to tell the ―correct‖ story. 1. I had made a mistake… 2. It seems to me much better…if you admit in print that you were wrong 3. The universe could have started out in a smooth and ordered…or lumpy and disordered state. 4. Neither of these possibilities agrees with what we observe… 5. The universe would…become lumpy and disordered as time went on 6. One has to use a quantum theory of gravity… 7. Some people never admit they are wrong… • How is ―Hypothesizing‖ unique? Consider in relation to other language, such as ―prediction‖, ―Guessing‖, ―Intuition‖, ―Knowledge‖.
- 23. Experiment • Have youever done an ―experiment‖? Describe your last experiment and what new knowledge was gained. • What are some of the purposes of Experiments? • Does all natural science require ―experiments‖?
- 24. Science Aesthetic • Howmight serendipity and creativity relate to natural discoveries, research problems, or even experimental solutions? • Is this ―intuition‖ a valid source of scientific knowing? • How is this similar and different than ―science for science sake‖ we often hear criticized in society?
- 25. Serendipity as Science? •Hofmann and LSD • Fleming and penicillin • Bequerel and radioactivity • Roentgen and X-rays • Kekule and benzene • Leonardo • Frank Dyson • Archimdedes • Damadian and Carr with the MRI
- 26. It seemed sosimple and obvious. I don’t think it took a lot of insight as much as naïveté -Dudley Hershbach, Nobel Prize Winner
- 27. Falsification and Repeatability •From previous discussions, I offered the following theory of Knowledge as ―knowledge is just as much about learning new things as _________‖ – How does this interact with the scientific understanding of ―falsification‖? • What type of certainty can science afford knowing its methodological/natural constraints?
- 28. Fill in theBlanks • The A model of Science does not prove anything. One counter-example will B the hypothesis. Thus, scientists should make their theories C. Science should proceed through a series of D and E. Scientists should adopt a F attitude called G. • Word Bank: conjectures; critical; disprove; falsificationism; inductivist; refutations; testable.
- 29. History of Science •What anthropic principles are involved with the formation of science? • What fields of science have persisted since the beginning of human thought? – List 5
- 30. History • Metallurgy • Medicine •Greeks and Theory • Modern Science • Quantum uncertainty and relativism
- 31. Scientific Revolution (16-18thc.) • How does this time period differ from the gradual evolution of scientific thought in the past? • What are some factors that contribute to the scientific revolution. – research 1 to share next week.
- 32. Scientific Thought Ordering •Put in the right order. What does the development of scientific thought over time reveal? • Put these statements in order: 1. Robert hook Showed that plants are made of compartments 2. They remind him of monks’ ―cells‖ 3. Robert Brown observed and named the ―nucleus‖ 4. In the 17th century, most scientists believed that life arose by spontaneous generation from dead matter. 5. Robert Remak first described the division of cells to make new ones
- 33. The Evolution andApplication of Theory • Paradigms shift when: – Too many ―anamolies‖ in the old make a new model more useful – Can clarify, not remake, the old paradigm – Can yield greater clarity, potential and progress for future knowing.
- 34. Activity: Brain GymExercises
- 35. ―Bad Science‖ Quiz •Eating olive oil reduces skin wrinkles • Eating fresh, leafy greens will help oxygenate the blood because of the chlorophyll. • Associations have been shown between Autism and vaccination dosages. • Geneticists have identified the gay gene. • Diet coke causes obesity and cancer • Cell phones have been shown to cause cancer in certain trials • All newer developed drugs are better than the older ones. • Eating Fish makes you smarter • 90% of patients receiving chemotherapy for cancer die within months of starting treatment • 65% of those with autism are left handed • You don’t sneeze when you sleep
- 36. Pseudo-Science • Discussion: What aresome reasons for fake science? How does it interact with Knowledge Issues from TOK?
- 38. Science as Community •What ―external pressures‖ exist in modern science? How does this affect research and knowing? • What types of Scientific Misconduct might there be? • ―Publish or perish‖ is a growing phenomena in academia. What are some advantages and disadvantages? • What types of scientific careers are there? How might it change the ―community‖?
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