Category archives: Philosophy of science

A virtual Earth-sized telescope shows how science is changing in the 21st century

A virtual Earth-sized telescope shows how science is changing in the 21st century

AstronomyAstrophysicsPhilosophy of science

By Invited Researcher

In 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration produced the first-ever image of a black hole, stunning the world. Now, scientists are taking it further. The next generation Event Horizon Telescope (ngEHT) collaboration aims to create high-quality videos of black holes. But this next-generation collaboration is groundbreaking in other ways, too. It’s the first large […]

On theory and observation (4): Sneed’s structuralism and T-theorecity

On theory and observation (4): Sneed’s structuralism and T-theorecity

Philosophy of science

By Jesús Zamora Bonilla

As we mentioned in the second entry of this series, the distinction between ‘the observable’ and ‘the theoretical’ focused on the first of these two concepts, so that the notion of ‘theoretical’ was implicitly understood as meaning simply ‘non-observable’. This distinction was submitted to powerful criticisms since the end of the fifties, when it was […]

On theory and observation (3): Scientists selling lemons, a game-theoretic analysis of how scientific facts are constructed

On theory and observation (3): Scientists selling lemons, a game-theoretic analysis of how scientific facts are constructed

Philosophy of science

By Jesús Zamora Bonilla

In our trip through the philosophical discussion about the nature of observation in science, I propose to take a different route from the most classical ones, and probably a surprising one for most of you. Akerlof’s classic paper ‘The Market for Lemons’, one of the founding works of the Economics of Information, presented an idealised […]

Should we really believe scientific facts will last forever?

Should we really believe scientific facts will last forever?

Philosophy of science

By Invited Researcher

Astronomers once believed the Sun revolved around the Earth. In the 19th century, scientists thought the shape of a person’s skull could reveal their mental strengths or weaknesses. And in the 20th century, many scientists fiercely opposed the idea that continents drift. All views that have since been completely overturned. So can we trust the […]