Construction and Truth-Value of Scientific Knowledge

By Michel Morange

Abstract

What is common knowledge? How different is it from scientific knowledge? In the first part of his lecture, Michel Morange questions the notion of knowledge and distinguishes it from belief. He also points out a philosophical ideology about the relative value of knowledge and discusses its ability to help scientists reach reality. He then explains in which ways scientific knowledge is different from common knowledge and uses the examples of the Greek philosophers, Louis Pasteur and Karl Popper to support his claim. Scientific knowledge, he says, is a search for natural explanations; it results from a long historical process. Morange ends his lecture by asking a question to the audience: is intelligent design a scientific theory?

Summary

00:00:10 – 1. Introduction

00:01:18 – 2. What is knowledge?
00:01:19 – 2.1.Attempts of an answer
00:01:20 – 2.1.1. Answers by the audience
00:09:05 – 2.1.2. Answers by Michel Morange
00:10:09 – 2.2. The relative value of knowledge

00:35:05 – 3. What is scientific knowledge?
00:36:42 – 3.1. Definition by Michel Morange
00:37:00 – 3.1.1. A search for natural explanations
00:38:41 – 3.1.2. A result of a long historical process
00:47:42 – 3.2. The case of the science of History
00:50:40 – 3.3. A modern scientific method: the hypothetico-deductive method
00:52:52 – 3.3.1. The experiments on spontaneous generation
00:55:45 – 3.3.2. The experiments of Louis Pasteur
01:04:02 – 3.4. The scientific model of Karl Popper
01:28:06 – 3.5. Thomas Kuhn, and scientific paradigms

01:40:10 – 4. Conclusion
01:40:38 – 4.1. Is intelligent design a scientific theory?