The unity of science is a thesis in
philosophy of science
Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultim ...
that says that all the sciences form a unified whole.
Overview
The unity of science thesis was proposed by
Ludwig von Bertalanffy
Karl Ludwig von Bertalanffy (19 September 1901 – 12 June 1972) was an Austrian biologist known as one of the founders of general systems theory (GST). This is an interdisciplinary practice that describes systems with interacting components, app ...
in "General System Theory: A New Approach to Unity of Science" (1951) and by
Paul Oppenheim and
Hilary Putnam
Hilary Whitehall Putnam (; July 31, 1926 – March 13, 2016) was an American philosopher, mathematician, and computer scientist, and a major figure in analytic philosophy in the second half of the 20th century. He made significant contributions ...
in "Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis" (1958). It has been opposed by
Jerry Fodor
Jerry Alan Fodor (; April 22, 1935 – November 29, 2017) was an American philosopher and the author of many crucial works in the fields of philosophy of mind and cognitive science. His writings in these fields laid the groundwork for the modul ...
in "Special Sciences (Or: The Disunity of Science as a Working Hypothesis)" (1974), by
Paul Feyerabend
Paul Karl Feyerabend (; January 13, 1924 – February 11, 1994) was an Austrian-born philosopher of science best known for his work as a professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, where he worked for three decades (195 ...
in ''Against Method'' (1975) and later works, and by
John Dupré in "The Disunity of Science" (1983) and ''The Disorder of Things: Metaphysical Foundations of the Disunity of Science'' (1993).
Jason Josephson Storm, a philosopher of social science, has also critiqued the unity of science while arguing that this avoids
scientific anti-realism and simplifies debates about the relationship between social and
natural kinds.
It has also been suggested (for example, in
Jean Piaget's 1918 work ''Recherche'') that the unity of science can be considered in terms of a circle of the sciences, where logic is the foundation for mathematics, which is the foundation for mechanics and physics, and physics is the foundation for chemistry, which is the foundation for biology, which is the foundation for sociology, the moral sciences, psychology, and the theory of knowledge, and the theory of knowledge is based on logic.
See also
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Consilience
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International Encyclopedia of Unified Science
International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations".
International may also refer to:
Music Albums
* ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011
* ''International'' (New Order album), 2002
* ''International'' (The T ...
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Logical positivism
Logical positivism, later called logical empiricism, and both of which together are also known as neopositivism, is a movement in Western philosophy whose central thesis was the verification principle (also known as the verifiability criterion o ...
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Special sciences
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Stanford School
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Systems theory
Systems theory is the interdisciplinary study of systems, i.e. cohesive groups of interrelated, interdependent components that can be natural or human-made. Every system has causal boundaries, is influenced by its context, defined by its structu ...
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The central science
Chemistry is often called the central science because of its role in connecting the physical sciences, which include chemistry, with the life sciences and applied sciences such as medicine and engineering. The nature of this relationship is one ...
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Unified Science
References
Further reading
* Bertallanfy's article was part of a section that also included, in response,
Carl G. Hempel's "General system theory and the unity of science" (pp. 313–322), Robert E. Bass's "Unity of nature" (pp. 323–327), and
Hans Jonas
Hans Jonas (; ; 10 May 1903 – 5 February 1993) was a German-born American Jewish philosopher, from 1955 to 1976 the Alvin Johnson Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York City.
Biography
Jonas was born ...
's "Comment on general system theory" (pp. 328–335).
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External links
Guide to the Unity of Science Movement Records 1934-1968at th
University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
Science studies
Philosophy of science
Metaphysics of science
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