philosophy of science

philosophy of science

the branch of PHILOSOPHY concerned with the nature and foundations of scientific knowledge. As such it is, in part, coexistent with ONTOLOGY and EPISTEMOLOGY, but in addition it also involves a more specific concern with the details of SCIENCE. Historically much of the concern of the philosophy of science has been prescriptive (see POSITIVISM, FALSIFICATIONISM), but as these approaches have run into problems (see KUHN, FEYERABEND) there has been a partial retreat from this emphasis, bringing the philosophy of science much closer to historical and SOCIAL STUDIES OF SCIENCE, and to the SOCIOLOGY OF SCIENCE and the SOCIOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE.

Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000