This blog post will explore in depth why science philosophy is more than just a liberal arts course, but an essential academic foundation for science and engineering students.
Science philosophy is very important. It deals with the discovery and specification of problem awareness, clear thinking and expression, and argumentation and persuasion, which not only provides an essential foundation for the major, but also has important implications regardless of the major.
There are two science philosophy courses offered at Seoul National University in Korea, one is “Philosophical Understanding of Science” and the other is “Critical Thinking in Science.” In these courses, the textbooks used are Thomas Kuhn’s “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” and Ronald Giere’s “Understanding Scientific Reasoning.” As the names of the courses suggest, both courses deal with philosophical considerations of science.
Basic studies provide a very important foundation for the performance of major studies, and the importance of the topics of other core liberal arts cannot be overlooked. However, I think it is not desirable that philosophy of science is not offered as a required liberal arts course, and the reason is not simply the fact that these courses deal with humanities on the theme of science, but that they have a special meaning that other liberal arts courses do not have.
There is an important aspect missing from the science and engineering courses in Korean high schools. Although there may be individual differences, science and engineering students generally spend their school years focusing on solving basic problems in mathematics and science. The problem is that, even if mathematics is based on logic itself, science subjects such as physics and chemistry are also overly focused on problem solving. Physics is a bit different from other maths in that it emphasizes the process of solving problems by applying standardized formulas. Although applying formulas to problem situations is an important part of physics, it does not provide sufficient opportunities to understand the meaning of the science of physics and the process of developing theories. In the process of solving problems that require answers that are integers without any decimal places, there is no room for in-depth thinking, and if the answer can be obtained by substituting it into the formula, the theory is always considered to be perfect. This educational background is likely to lead to misunderstanding or uncritical attitude toward science.
The philosophy of science course allows students to cover topics ranging from the birth of science to philosophical considerations of the method of argumentation and critical analysis of hypotheses and models, helping them to consider the nature of science itself rather than simply accepting it as knowledge. This experience is special because it provides not only a liberal arts education but also a correct and in-depth understanding of the science related to the major. “Science philosophy helps students in science and engineering to break free from the narrow-minded thinking they may have and to ensure that their major courses do not remain a simple extension of what they studied in high school. It provides students who have been limited to memorizing formulas and theories with the opportunity to break the existing framework and gain a more accurate and in-depth understanding of science and to think critically.
“Science philosophy can also be of great help to students who are about to study more majors in the future. Critical thinking is often mentioned as an essential attitude that learners should have, because when we look at any object critically, we can understand it more clearly. In terms of academic learning, philosophy of science can have a positive impact in this regard. Just as the basic sciences are key tools for academic research, philosophy of science can also serve as an academic weapon rather than an academic tool. It can help students more than their English and math skills.
In summary, the reason why philosophy of science is more important than other core liberal arts courses is that it is not simply peripheral knowledge, but also directly linked to the student’s major. The historical and philosophical insights provided by philosophy of science have a depth that even major classes or basic science cannot provide. While major and basic science focus on the results of science, philosophy of science attempts to understand the discipline of science itself. In addition, scientific philosophy can be as helpful in conducting academic research as the basic academic disciplines foster.
Reading can be an ideal solution to the problems of high school education. For example, Thomas Kuhn’s “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” was selected as one of the 100 recommended books by Seoul National University. If students come across this book naturally, the importance of the scientific philosophy it emphasizes may remain a mere personal opinion. However, it is not easy to read a book in the midst of a tight schedule in college when you have had little reading experience in high school. If there is an engineering student who voluntarily reads a book on scientific philosophy, it would be quite rare among all students.
The suggestion to create an atmosphere conducive to reading may be overly unrealistic in a Korean society that has been competitive and hierarchical. Ultimately, students need a foundation to learn about science, and the place where this is possible and must be done is the university. If the university’s ideal is to train students to become true intellectuals, then this is in line with that goal. For science and engineering students, philosophy of science teaches them the history and essence of their major, and knowing and learning this makes a big difference.
Just as it is foolish to discuss the future without knowing the history, I believe that acquiring knowledge without knowing the roots and history of science is no different from becoming a mere technician. Providing science philosophy as a required liberal arts course for training specialists will play an important role in training true engineers, not technicians.
