Specimen paper for 2012
Answer one question from Section A and three questions chosen from Section B.
SECTION A
1. When theory and observation clash, is it always theory that is to blame?
2. In which senses does science make progress, not merely changes?
SECTION B
3. Is it inevitable that scientists should engage in induction?
4. What is the most significant point of contrast between Popper’s and Kuhn’s views
on scientific method?
5. Was Feyerabend correct to call Lakatos a ‘fellow anarchist’?
6. Could a false theory or model be successful? What are the implications of this for
the debate on scientific realism?
7. Discuss a major case of theory-change in science which exhibits Kuhnian
incommensurability, or argue that there are no such cases.
8. Should metaphysics change according to the latest development in science?
Discuss with reference to an example from the physical sciences.
9. Is measurement theory-laden? How does that issue relate to the Duhem–Quine
thesis?
10. ‘Evolutionary theory is not scientific because it is no more than a tautology.’
Discuss.
11. Are social and natural science fundamentally different?
12. Is the precautionary principle unscientific?