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SUMMARY:Foresight in Scientific Method - Professor Hasok Chang\, Universit
 y of Cambridge
DTSTART:20130208T173000Z
DTEND:20130208T183000Z
UID:TALK39997@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Janet Gibson
DESCRIPTION:Abstract\n\nWe may ask two questions about foresight in relati
 on to science: (1) whether science can foretell future events\, and (2) wh
 ether we can foretell the future of science itself.  Regarding the first q
 uestion\, many philosophers and scientists (including Lakatos and Popper) 
 have especially valued the ability of science to make novel predictions\, 
 sometimes to the point of regarding it as the defining characteristic of s
 cience.  I will argue that the acknowledged ability of modern science to m
 ake successful predictions is only as valuable as its ability to organise 
 and explain previously known phenomena.  Regarding the second question\, I
  will argue that scientists and others have been very unsuccessful in pred
 icting the course of the development of science itself.  The uncertainty a
 bout the staying power of scientific theories\, even predictively successf
 ul ones\, actually raises a serious question about the value of predictive
  success.  The final lesson from these reflections is one of humility: tru
 e foresight consists in recognising the limits of our foresight.\n\nBiogra
 phy\n\nHasok Chang is Hans Rausing Professor of History and Philosophy of 
 Science at the University of Cambridge.  Previously he taught for 15 years
  at University College London\, after receiving his PhD in Philosophy at S
 tanford University following an undergraduate degree at the California Ins
 titute of Technology.  He is the author of Is Water H2O? Evidence\, Realis
 m and Pluralism (Springer\, 2012)\, and Inventing Temperature: Measurement
  and Scientific Progress (Oxford University Press\, 2004)\, which was a jo
 int winner of the 2006 Lakatos Award.  He is also co-editor (with Catherin
 e Jackson) of An Element of Controversy: The Life of Chlorine in Science\,
  Medicine\, Technology and War (British Society for the History of Science
 \, 2007)\, a collection of original work by undergraduate students at Univ
 ersity College London.  He is a co-founder of the Society for Philosophy o
 f Science in Practice (SPSP)\, and the International Committee for Integra
 ted History and Philosophy of Science.  Currently he is the President of t
 he British Society for this History of Science.
LOCATION:LMH\, Lady Mitchell Hall
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