The Need for a Revolution in the Philosophy of Science

There is a need to bring about a revolution in the philosophy of science, interpreted to be both the academic discipline, and the official view of the aims and methods of science upheld by the scientific community. At present both are dominated by the view that in science theories are chosen on the basis of empirical considerations alone, nothing being permanently accepted as a part of scientific knowledge independently of evidence. Biasing choice of theory in the direction of simplicity, unity or explanatory power does not permanently commit science to the thesis that nature is simple or unified. This current ‘paradigm’ is, I argue, untenable. We need a new paradigm, which acknowledges that science makes a hierarchy of metaphysical assumptions concerning the comprehensibility and knowability of the universe, theories being chosen partly on the basis of compatibility with these assumptions. Eleven arguments are given for favouring this new ‘paradigm’ over the current one. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Hindu and Christian Creationism: "Transposed Passages" in the Geological Book of Life

Antievolution arguments of Christian and Hindu creationists often critique Darwin's metaphor of the geological record as an ill-preserved book of life, while highlighting the problem of anomalous fossils. For instance, Bible-based young-Earth creationists point to anomalous humanlike prints alongside authenticated dinosaur tracks to argue for the creation of all life some few thousand years ago. But Vedic-based ancient-hominid creationists view the same sort of evidence as indicating the existence of all species, including the hominids, billions of years ago. I examine the roots of this Hindu Vedic creationism and its recent elaboration among scientifically minded members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Similarities in the methods and rhetorical strategies of the two creationist groups are considered, as well as the underlying motives that have brought together such otherwise disparate religious worldviews.     

Scientific Creativity: Divergent and Convergent Thinking and the Impact of Culture

This paper examines the contrast and distinction between divergent and convergent scientific creativity, and the paradoxical relationship of scientific creativity with cultural factors in elementary students. With a newly developed measure of potential for scientific creativity, EPoC Science (Lubart et al., in press), students produce ideas in response to scientific problems, and both divergent‐exploratory as well as convergent‐integrative processes involved in scientific creativity are analyzed. An empirical study (n = 118) was conducted in France with elementary school children (ages 7–10). The divergent‐exploratory task was scored for fluency and statistical uniqueness. For the convergent‐integrative task, the number of concepts that a student integrated and synthesized, and the originality of the synthesis were scored. Results showed that divergent and convergent task performances were weakly related to each other. This suggests that divergence and convergence are two relatively distinct processes for scientific creativity, and that the relation is more complex than commonly assumed. In terms of culture‐related variables, immigrant cultural background (number of family members born outside of France) was significantly and negatively correlated with the originality of divergent and convergent scientific creativity. Findings are discussed and educational implications are proposed.     

A New Task for Philosophy of Science

This paper argues that we philosophers of science have before us an important new task that we urgently need to take up. It is to convince the scientific community to adopt and implement a new philosophy of science that does better justice to the deeply problematic basic intellectual aims of science than that which we have at present. Problematic aims evolve with evolving knowledge, that part of philosophy of science concerned with aims and methods thus becoming an integral part of science itself. The outcome of putting this new philosophy into scientific practice would be a new kind of science, both more intellectually rigorous and one that does better justice to the best interests of humanity.     

Naturalness constraints on best systems accounts of laws

According to best systems accounts, laws of nature are generalizations in the best systematization of particular matters of fact. Metrics such as simplicity and strength determine which systematization is best, but these are notoriously language relative. For this reason, David Lewis proposed a constraint on languages of inquiry: all predicates must be natural. This constraint is sometimes interpreted as requiring us to know which natural properties are instantiated in our world prior to scientific theorizing. I argue that this interpretation is incorrect. I provide a better interpretation and show how it undercuts an influential epistemological objection to Lewis's best systems account of laws due to Bas van Fraassen.     

知识划界、追赶焦虑与中国本土心理学的理论建构导向

科学心理学以方法为中心的知识建构策略,内在地要求它与常识心理学划界以谋求自然科学分支的学科地位,其代价是对人类心理之情感与意义维度的隔离。在移植西方心理学体系的过程中,科学心理学的争议也内含于中国心理学的发展轨迹中,同时还附加了学术边陲地区特有的学科追赶焦虑。中国本土心理学理论应突破科学至上的观念束缚,致力于发展具有现实解释力和价值引导力的人文主义导向的心理学理论,以切实解决中国现实社会中的心理问题,并在世界心理学界发出真正的中国声音。     

组织行为学研究的现状：意义与建议

本文对2008~2011年这4个年度发表在英文和中文组织行为学方面重要学术期刊上的研究进行总结, 旨在让国内学者了解现今组织行为学的现状和发展。我们在分析研究内容、研究方法的基础上, 就当前中国组织行为学研究提出了一些总结性的看法, 包括：研究问题很大程度上追随国际潮流, 但缺乏对本土重要问题的关注; 研究方法过多地集中于定量的问卷调查法, 但缺乏对多种不同方法的应用; 研究的分析层次过多地集中在个体层次上, 而对多层次的组织和团队管理现象关注不足。为更好地促进组织行为学科的发展, 本文建议：应该注重立足中国的组织和管理现象来挖掘研究问题; 采用多种研究方法, 特别应鼓励开展定性研究; 注重跨层次研究和研究的情境化等。本文通过介绍近年来组织行为领域的全面情况并详细分析其中的若干个例, 为如何克服以上不足提供具体的范例和方法。     

群体潜能对团队创新绩效的影响:转换型领导力的调节作用*

从团队创新内在动力视角出发,考察了群体潜能与团队绩效间的关系,并探索了转换型领导力对该作用过程的影响。研究发现:群体潜能与团队创新绩效有显著的正相关关系,该关系受到转换型领导力的调节,高水平的转换型领导力会增强两者的联系,低水平的转换型领导力会减弱两者的联系。     

科学发明问题解决的脑机制再探

选取高生态学效度的科学发明问题作为实验材料, 采用“学习−测试”的两阶段实验范式, 利用静息态功能磁共振成像技术, 基于局部一致性(ReHo)和低频振幅(ALFF)的分析方法, 研究科学发明问题解决的神经机制。在控制被试性别、年龄和常规性问题解决能力后, 结果发现左侧前扣带回(Anterior Cingulate Cortex, ACC)的ReHo值和个体科学发明问题解决的正确率显著正相关, ALFF的结果同样印证了这一发现。结果强调了ACC在科学发明问题解决过程中的重要作用。     

Extensive Philosophical Agreement and Progress

This article argues, first, that there is plenty of agreement among philosophers on philosophically substantive claims, which fall into three categories: reasons for or against certain views, elementary truths regarding fundamental notions, and highly conditionalized claims. This agreement suggests that there is important philosophical progress. It then argues that although it's easy to list several potential kinds of philosophical progress, it is much harder to determine whether the potential is actual. Then the article attempts to articulate the truth that the deniers of philosophical progress are latching on to. Finally, it comments on the significance of the agreement and (potential) progress.