On the Practical Applications of Philosophy of Science

Authors: Cordero A*

DOI: 10.23880/phij-16000S1-008

Special Issue 1: Practical Uses of Philosophy

Abstract

This paper discusses applications of results from the philosophy of science outside the discipline itself. Part I focuses on applications of general public interest along five fronts. Section I.1 considers the general relevance of the critique of the ideas, methods, and results of science as articulated by philosophers. Section I.2 discusses some of the uses of works on the rise of modern scientific thought as a new form of rationality and sensitivity. Section I.3 takes on the theme of science and the opening of the imagination. Section I.4 comments on the general interest of clarifications offered by philosophers of science of the ongoing project of knowing without guarantees or absolutes. Section I.5 considers applications of the philosophy of science in education. Part II focuses on explicit uses of philosophical works in the sciences. Section II.1 discusses the presence of informal philosophizing. Then Section II.2 explores explicit influences of philosophical works in science. Section II.3 comments on some hostility towards the philosophy of science apparent in some scientists. Finally, Section II.4 ventures a suggestion about scientists as philosophers and its meaning for the relation between the two disciplines.

Keywords: Life; Humanity; Scientists; Secret philosophers; Philosophical works

View PDF