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Experimentalism is the philosophical belief that the way to truth is through experiments and empiricism. [1] It is also associated with instrumentalism, [2] the belief that truth should be evaluated based upon its demonstrated usefulness. Experimentalism is considered a theory of knowledge that emphasizes direct action and scientific control as well as methods and consequences. [3]
Experimentalism is referred to as John Dewey's version of pragmatism. [3] The theory, which he also called as practicalism, holds that the pattern for knowledge should be modern science and modern scientific methods. [3] Dewey explained that philosophy involves the critical evaluation of belief and that the concept's function is practical. [3] This perspective has influenced modern American intellectual culture leading to a correction of approaches to science that had excessive concentrations on theory. [3]
While experimentalism is empirical in approach, [4] experimentalism is distinguished from empiricism. The latter involves the passive view of sense data and observational reports while the former focuses on conditions where hypotheses are tested. [5] Experimentalists maintain that political and moral concepts arise because of conflict, hence consider experience and history as essential. [4] It is also maintained that the experimental attitude is based on the principle of fallibilism, operating with the notion that outcomes of prior inquiries are not absolutely certain or already known and that prior findings could be wrong. [6]
Deborah Mayo suggests that we should focus on how experimental knowledge is actually arrived at and how it functions in science. [7] Mayo also suggests that the reason New Experimentalists have come up short, is that the part of experiments that have the most to offer in building an account of inference and evidence that are left untapped: designing, generating, modelling and analysing experiments and data.
Artists often pursue their visions through trial and error; this form of experimentalism has been practiced in every field, including music, film, literature, and theatre. [8] A more specific explanation cites that this experimentalism is inductive in nature, with artists (e.g. Michelangelo and Titian) proceeding by trial and error as opposed to the conceptualists' approach, which favors making preparatory work while step changes are made in their progress. [9]
Artistic experimentalism taken as a rule is generally associated with an attendant avant-garde.
In literature, the experimental approach may involve the production of texts through a combination of new procedures of literary production such as the inclusion of images in poetry. [8] This is also seen in the works of computer artists or those who integrate technology in their art. [8] For instance, Stan VanderBeek produced Poemfield through programming using BEFLIX to animate the poem's words and embed a geometric background. [8]
In education, there is the position that learners continuously need new methods and experimentalism is essential in the development process. [10] Through the method of learning-by-doing, it is expected that the learner develops his capacities and interests so that they empower him to assume the role of constructive participant in the life of the wider society. [11] The experimentalist's view emphasizes the importance of life experience as the basis of what is learned. Experiences are said to consist the active interrelationship between the individual and the external world. [11]
Global security specialists employ experimentalism to develop and maintain multi-faceted projects as well as determine innovative tools of governance. [12] Such projects are operationalized through a trial-and-error and adaptive manner.
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called theory of knowledge, it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowledge in the form of skills, and knowledge by acquaintance as a familiarity through experience. Epistemologists study the concepts of belief, truth, and justification to understand the nature of knowledge. To discover how knowledge arises, they investigate sources of justification, such as perception, introspection, memory, reason, and testimony.
In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological view which holds that true knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience and empirical evidence. It is one of several competing views within epistemology, along with rationalism and skepticism. Empiricists argue that empiricism is a more reliable method of finding the truth than purely using logical reasoning, because humans have cognitive biases and limitations which lead to errors of judgement. Empiricism emphasizes the central role of empirical evidence in the formation of ideas, rather than innate ideas or traditions. Empiricists may argue that traditions arise due to relations of previous sensory experiences.
Falsifiability is a deductive standard of evaluation of scientific theories and hypotheses, introduced by the philosopher of science Karl Popper in his book The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1934). A theory or hypothesis is falsifiable if it can be logically contradicted by an empirical test.
Physics is the scientific study of matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. Physics is one of the most fundamental scientific disciplines. A scientist who specializes in the field of physics is called a physicist.
Philosophical methodology encompasses the methods used to philosophize and the study of these methods. Methods of philosophy are procedures for conducting research, creating new theories, and selecting between competing theories. In addition to the description of methods, philosophical methodology also compares and evaluates them.
The philosophy of education is the branch of applied philosophy that investigates the nature of education as well as its aims and problems. It also examines the concepts and presuppositions of education theories. It is an interdisciplinary field that draws inspiration from various disciplines both within and outside philosophy, like ethics, political philosophy, psychology, and sociology. Many of its theories focus specifically on education in schools but it also encompasses other forms of education. Its theories are often divided into descriptive theories, which provide a value-neutral description of what education is, and normative theories, which investigate how education should be practiced.
Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into two or three major branches: the natural sciences, which study the physical world; and the behavioural sciences, which study individuals and societies. The formal sciences, which study formal systems governed by axioms and rules, are sometimes described as being sciences as well; however, they are often regarded as a separate field because they rely on deductive reasoning instead of the scientific method or empirical evidence as their main methodology. Applied sciences are disciplines that use scientific knowledge for practical purposes, such as engineering and medicine.
The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century. The scientific method involves careful observation coupled with rigorous scepticism, because cognitive assumptions can distort the interpretation of the observation. Scientific inquiry includes creating a hypothesis through inductive reasoning, testing it through experiments and statistical analysis, and adjusting or discarding the hypothesis based on the results.
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a particular factor is manipulated. Experiments vary greatly in goal and scale but always rely on repeatable procedure and logical analysis of the results. There also exist natural experimental studies.
Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that views language and thought as tools for prediction, problem solving, and action, rather than describing, representing, or mirroring reality. Pragmatists contend that most philosophical topics—such as the nature of knowledge, language, concepts, meaning, belief, and science—are best viewed in terms of their practical uses and successes.
Quasi-empirical methods are scientific methods used to gain knowledge in situations where empirical evidence cannot be gathered through experimentation, or experience cannot falsify the ideas involved. Quasi-empirical methods aim to be as closely analogous to empirical methods as possible.
Scientific evidence is evidence that serves to either support or counter a scientific theory or hypothesis, although scientists also use evidence in other ways, such as when applying theories to practical problems. Such evidence is expected to be empirical evidence and interpretable in accordance with the scientific method. Standards for scientific evidence vary according to the field of inquiry, but the strength of scientific evidence is generally based on the results of statistical analysis and the strength of scientific controls.
In philosophy of science and in epistemology, instrumentalism is a methodological view that ideas are useful instruments, and that the worth of an idea is based on how effective it is in explaining and predicting natural phenomena. According to instrumentalists, a successful scientific theory reveals nothing known either true or false about nature's unobservable objects, properties or processes. Scientific theory is merely a tool whereby humans predict observations in a particular domain of nature by formulating laws, which state or summarize regularities, while theories themselves do not reveal supposedly hidden aspects of nature that somehow explain these laws. Instrumentalism is a perspective originally introduced by Pierre Duhem in 1906.
Empirical evidence is evidence obtained through sense experience or experimental procedure. It is of central importance to the sciences and plays a role in various other fields, like epistemology and law.
Modern philosophy is philosophy developed in the modern era and associated with modernity. It is not a specific doctrine or school, although there are certain assumptions common to much of it, which helps to distinguish it from earlier philosophy.
Inductionism is the scientific philosophy where laws are "induced" from sets of data. As an example, one might measure the strength of electrical forces at varying distances from charges and induce the inverse square law of electrostatics. This concept is considered one of the two pillars of the old view of the philosophy of science, together with verifiability. An application of inductionism can show how experimental evidence can confirm or inductively justify the belief in generalization and the laws of nature.
The history of scientific method considers changes in the methodology of scientific inquiry, as distinct from the history of science itself. The development of rules for scientific reasoning has not been straightforward; scientific method has been the subject of intense and recurring debate throughout the history of science, and eminent natural philosophers and scientists have argued for the primacy of one or another approach to establishing scientific knowledge.
Feminist epistemology is an examination of epistemology from a feminist standpoint.
Evidence for a proposition is what supports the proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the supported proposition is true. What role evidence plays and how it is conceived varies from field to field.
Democratic experimentalism is an interpretation of democracy that seeks to combine certain democratic concepts with a practice of thought and action. It denotes varied pragmatic perspectives in legal theory, political science, political theory, and sociology. It is considered a new paradigm of institutional thinking about democracy and law that conceives different roles for legal actors.