User:LGreg/sandbox/Approaches to Knowledge (LG seminar 2020/21)/Seminar 18/Truth/Truth in the Natural Sciences

Introduction to truth in the natural sciences

Examples of some disciplines that fall under the natural sciences are: biology, chemistry and physics. A natural science is a science that looks at natural phenomenons such as plants, planets, chemical reactions etc. Those in the natural science field aim to be objective in their conceptions about phenomenon, combining the use of quantitative and qualitative data, utilising data analysis to confirm hypotheses and produce conclusions. This page will show how although scientists aim to be as objective as possible, eliminating biases to get the most accurate conclusion there are still certain phenomena that can hinder the reliability of knowledge (and therefore truth) in the natural sciences and the implications that this entails. This page will also look at the history of truth in the natural sciences, focusing on paradigm shifts in certain disciplines, how these came about and their implications.

Phenomena in the production of truth

Although most scientists aim to be as objective as possible in their views and conclusions when producing truths there are certain phenomena which may occur subconsciously that can skewer how scientists view their data, utilise their data or observe phenomenons. Subsequently, producing false truths within disciplines which may have a knock-on effect.

1. Confirmation bias: Confirmation bias occurs when scientists tend to focus more on evidence/data that supports their hypothesis and preconceptions, the difficulty with this phenomenon is that once there is data to support one's hypothesis it is even harder to move away from your preconceptions. The implications of this phenomenon is that once this data is published which may be inaccurate, this data is then considered a 'truth' within a field- causing a knock on effect when more truths are produced based on this false truth. A real world example of confirmation bias is the N-ray. 8 years after X-rays were discovered in 1903 it was thought that N-rays had also been discovered, another type of radiation. This radiation meant that cold-fusion was possible which would mean unlimited clean energy- a french scientist called Prosper-René Blondlot claimed that he made the breakthrough discovery of N rays, soon after many researchers from all over the world claimed that they too had seen N- rays but the difficulty with N-rays was that it could only be seen by the human eye making it unquantifiable. However, an American scientist called Robert Wood was skeptical of Blondlot’s claims, he visited Blondlot’s lab himself and removed the crystal that supposedly produced the N- rays, after which Blondlot failed to mention its absence. This is an example of confirmation bias as the N- rays failed to vanish when the source was removed proving that Blondlot along with other French scientists were so passionate on the idea of N- rays that they saw something that wasn’t there, causing them to put out false information into the scientific community. If this truth hadn't been corrected as untrue it would be possible that other scientists could base their experiments on this truth, creating more false conclusions.
2. P-hacking: P- hacking refers to the phenomenon when scientists may subconsciously "manipulate" data, either by inserting data or extracting data so that it suits their hypothesis . The implications of P-hacking is that it may lead to the production of low quality research papers and false truths within the scientific community .
3. Publication Bias: Publication bias is the phenomenon of when more significant scientific findings are published than ones that may be viewed as less significant. The implications of this being that this "bias towards statistically significant results for fields that rely on frequentist statistics: it is possible that the literature in these fields largely consists of false conclusions". Another implication of this being, since scientists do not get funding from repeating past experiments, it could be seen as potentially 'easy' for false truths within a field to go 'unchecked'.

Paradigm shifts in truths

A paradigm shift is "a situation in which the usual and accepted way of doing or thinking about something changes completely" . Paradigm shifts can be useful when looking at the history of truths within the natural sciences and how these changes in conception can lead to more accurate discoveries. An example of a paradigm shift can be seen in biology with 'cell- theory' when it was once believed that entire organisms were formed from a single unit of cellular tissue (not multiple) or that there is spontaneous generation of cells (not that cells come from the division of other cells). All of these discoveries where made possible with the invention of the microscope in 1665 by Robert Hooke , the implications of this being that more breakthroughs within modern biology were made possible with this truth (cell theory).