Systematicity: The Nature of Science

Public Lecture by Professor Paul Hoyningen-HueneSep. 12th, 2018: 18:00 – 19:30

Abstract. The paper addresses the question of what the nature of science is. I will first make a few preliminary historical and systematic remarks. Next, in answering the main question, I shall propose the following thesis: Scientific knowledge is primarily distinguished from other forms of knowledge, especially from everyday knowledge, by being more systematic. This thesis has to be qualified, clarified, developed and justified. In particular, I will develop the thesis in nine dimensions in which it is claimed that science is more systematic than every- day knowledge: regarding descriptions, explanations, predictions, the defense of knowledge claims, critical discourse, epistemic connectedness, an ideal of completeness, knowledge generation, and the structure and representation of knowledge. Finally, I will compare my answer with alternative answers.

Paul Hoyningen-Huene is a philosopher of science with a PhD in theoretical physics. In 2014, he retired from his professorship for theoretical philosophy, especially philosophy of science, at the Institute of Philosophy of Leibniz University of Hannover, Germany. Professor Hoyningen-Huene was founding director of the Center for Philosophy and Ethics of Science in Hannover and is a member of the German Academy of Science Leopoldina. He teaches now philosophy of economics at the Department for Economics of the University of Zurich, Switzerland. He is best known for his books Reconstructing Scientific Revolutions: Thomas S. Kuhn's Philosophy of Science (1993), Formal Logic: A Philosophical Approach (2004), and Sys- tematicity: The Nature of Science (2013).