Relevant videnskabsteori - Fagets videnskabsteori i kuhniansk perspektiv

Abstract

Mens der er krav om, at fagets eller fagområdets videnskabsteori skal indgå i bacheloruddannelserne på de danske universiteter, er det lagt ud til de ansvarlige for de enkelte uddannelser at fastlægge fagets konkrete indhold. På grundlag af Thomas Kuhns beskrivelse af naturvidenskaben kan man dog fremføre gode grunde til, at undervisning i almene videnskabsteoretiske begreber og spørgsmål bør være en del af faget på de naturvidenskabelige uddannelser, da de studerende ellers vil mangle det teoretiske grundlag for at reflektere kritisk over deres egne fags metoder og forstå andre fags videnskabelige tilgange. Samtidig er undervisning i almen videnskabsteori på disse uddannelser imidlertid forbundet med den udfordring, at de studerende vil have en tendens til ikke at betragte den som relevant for deres videnskabelige profession. Hvis de studerende skal opnå det videnskabsteoretiske grundlag for tværfaglig forståelse og kritisk faglig refleksion, er det derfor afgørende, at undervisningen i almen videnskabsteori sigter efter at forbinde de abstrakte, overordnede diskussioner fra videnskabsteorien med spørgsmål fra konkret videnskabelig praksis. While every bachelor education in the natural sciences at a Danish university must include a course in the philosophy of science of the subject area, it is left to those responsible for each individual bachelor education to determine the specific contents of these courses. Based on Thomas Kuhn’s description of the natural sciences, however, there are good reasons to include general philosophy of science in the curricula for all bachelor courses in the sciences. In particular, to ensure that students have the theoretical resources they need to reflect on their own scientific methods and to understand how scientific investigation is approached in other subject areas. But teaching such general philosophy of science courses to science students comes with a challenge: Many students feel that the content is not relevant to their scientific profession. Our conclusion is that for all science students to benefit from the teaching of philosophy as part of their bachelor courses, it is crucial that general philosophy of science is taught in a way which aims to connect the abstract, general discussions in the philosophy of science with questions from concrete scientific practice.