← Knowledge & Inquiry syllabus

SingaporeKnowledge & Inquiry

Knowledge in the Sciences

6 dot points across 6 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

Does science progress by steady accumulation, or by revolutions in which whole frameworks are overthrown?

Explain Kuhn's account of paradigms, normal and revolutionary science, and incommensurability, and assess what it implies for scientific objectivity and progress
A focused answer on Kuhn's philosophy of science. Paradigms, normal science and puzzle-solving, anomalies and crisis, revolutionary paradigm shifts, incommensurability, and the challenge this poses to a cumulative, fully objective picture of science.
11 min answer →

If scientific observation is shaped by theory and science works through idealised models, can it still deliver objective knowledge?

Explain the theory-ladenness of observation and the role of models and idealisation in science, and assess their implications for objectivity
A focused answer on models and the theory-ladenness of observation. Why observation is not a neutral given, how idealised models represent the world, and whether these features undermine or are compatible with scientific objectivity.
10 min answer →

What separates science from pseudoscience, and is falsifiability the right criterion?

Explain Popper's falsificationism as a solution to the demarcation problem and assess its strengths and weaknesses, including the Duhem-Quine challenge
A focused answer on Popper's falsificationism. The demarcation problem, why Popper rejects verification for falsifiability, conjecture and refutation, corroboration, and the main objections including the Duhem-Quine problem and naive versus sophisticated falsificationism.
11 min answer →

Do successful scientific theories describe a real world of unobservable things, or are they just useful instruments for prediction?

Contrast scientific realism with instrumentalism and anti-realism, and assess the no-miracles argument and the pessimistic meta-induction
A focused answer on the realism debate in science. Whether theories about unobservables are true descriptions or mere predictive instruments, the no-miracles argument for realism, the pessimistic meta-induction against it, and structural and constructive empiricist middle positions.
10 min answer →

Can we ever be justified in inferring from observed cases to unobserved ones, and what does Hume's problem mean for science?

Explain Hume's problem of induction and the new riddle of induction, and assess the main responses including pragmatic, probabilistic and Popperian replies
A focused answer on the problem of induction. Hume's argument that inductive inference cannot be justified non-circularly, Goodman's new riddle, and the main responses: pragmatic vindication, probabilistic accounts, and Popper's rejection of induction.
11 min answer →

Is there a single method that makes inquiry scientific, and how do observation, hypothesis and experiment fit together?

Characterise the scientific method, contrasting inductivist and hypothetico-deductive accounts, and assess whether a single method defines science
A focused answer on the scientific method. The inductivist picture, the hypothetico-deductive model, the roles of observation, hypothesis, prediction and testing, and whether any single method captures what makes inquiry scientific.
11 min answer →