{"title":"Deep Learning-Aided Research and the Aim-of-Science Controversy","authors":"Yukinori Onishi","doi":"10.1007/s10838-023-09667-0","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The aim or goal of science has long been discussed by both philosophers of science and scientists themselves. In <i>The Scientific Image</i> (van Fraassen 1980), the aim of science is famously employed to characterize scientific realism and a version of anti-realism, called <i>constructive empiricism.</i> Since the publication of <i>The Scientific Image</i>, however, various changes have occurred in scientific practice. The increasing use of machine learning technology, especially deep learning (DL), is probably one of the major changes in the last decade. This paper aims to explore the implications of DL-aided research for the aim of science debate. I argue that, while the emerging DL-aided research is unlikely to change the state of classic opposition between constructive empiricism and scientific realism, it could offer interesting cases regarding the opposition between those who espouse truth as the aim of science and those oriented to understanding (of the kind that sacrifices truth).</p>","PeriodicalId":44953,"journal":{"name":"Journal for General Philosophy of Science","volume":"75 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal for General Philosophy of Science","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10838-023-09667-0","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The aim or goal of science has long been discussed by both philosophers of science and scientists themselves. In The Scientific Image (van Fraassen 1980), the aim of science is famously employed to characterize scientific realism and a version of anti-realism, called constructive empiricism. Since the publication of The Scientific Image, however, various changes have occurred in scientific practice. The increasing use of machine learning technology, especially deep learning (DL), is probably one of the major changes in the last decade. This paper aims to explore the implications of DL-aided research for the aim of science debate. I argue that, while the emerging DL-aided research is unlikely to change the state of classic opposition between constructive empiricism and scientific realism, it could offer interesting cases regarding the opposition between those who espouse truth as the aim of science and those oriented to understanding (of the kind that sacrifices truth).
期刊介绍：
The Journal for General Philosophy of Science is a forum for the discussion of a variety of attitudes concerning the philosophy of science. It has as its subject matter the philosophical, especially methodological, ontological, epistemological, anthropological, and ethical foundations of the individual sciences. Particular emphasis is laid on bringing both the natural, the cultural, and the technical sciences into a philosophical context, within which the historical presuppositions and conditions of the current problems of the philosophy of science are also included in the discussion. The Journal for General Philosophy of Science has been successful in its attempt to serve as a forum that bridges the gap between the different sciences, especially the natural, cultural, and social sciences. One of its purposes is to discuss and contrast the common as well as the different specific methodological and philosophical foundations of the individual sciences, taking into account all currently relevant positions of the philosophy of science. In recent years considerable insight has been gained into the problems of current philosophy of science by considering the historical dimension of the sciences. This is why more intensive efforts will be made in the future towards the integration of historical and systematic considerations. The journal contains:articles discussions reports on the state of the philosophy of science in individual countries reviews a bibliography of the major journals in the field of the history and philosophy of science. The journal is of interest to philosophers, especially philosophers of science, as well as to scholars from the field of the natural, cultural, social and technical sciences who are interested in becoming aware of the philosophical implications of their disciplines and in being stimulated by the transfer of methods, leading ideas, concepts and theories from other fields.
As of 2015, Journal for General Philosophy of Science will accept submissions online via the Editorial Manager system. Authors are encouraged to use this format in submitting to the journal to ensure that your article is processed in a timely fashion.
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