Theme 1: Theory of Science (Post)

As we all know this week’s lecture and seminar was canceled. I know there is nothing to do about it, but I think it would have been very helpful to have a seminar to get a deeper understanding of the text by Russell that we all read. A lot of people in class that I have been talking to had a hard time reading the text. I guess we are not really used to reading philosophical texts and that is why it takes a little longer to grasp the content.

The last time I read a philosophical text was probably five or six years ago, back in high school. I had to read more slowly than what I am used to and I had to repeat certain parts before I was able to really understand them. First, I read the whole thing from beginning to the end without taking any notes. When I was done with that, I used a source called SparkNotes, which is a site that keeps summaries of all kinds of books. It was really helpful to get a short recap of all the basic terms and Russell’s main thoughts. The summary also helped me a lot when I answered the four questions connected to this theme.

I did learn some new things and refreshed a couple of old classic philosophical issues (such as if physical objects really exist or if they are just a product of our imagination). I do find these topics interesting, but I am having a hard time seeing a real connection to my education and this course. Since I am going to write my master’s thesis next semester I really want to learn more about the scientific process and the style in which you need to write. However, it is important to know more about the scientific foundation that all our works should be based on. In some chapters Russell writes about knowledge and how we acquire knowledge, which is closely connected to our studies here at KTH. Russell suggests that we could be “mislead” by reality and derive “false knowledge” (i.e. something that could be true but based on a false assumption). This is something that I will try to keep in mind when I am going to write my master’s thesis and conduct my data collection. Even though I might believe that I have knowledge of something, I always need to have the “doubt” in the back of my mind if it is really based on a true assumption or a correct question. I think this is the most important thing that I can take away from this week’s theme.  

To conclude, I think this theme could be seen as an introduction to science, but I really hope that we get to go more “hands on” on the scientific method. Looking back at my old bachelor’s thesis I really hope that I could produce something much better for my master’s thesis.