Formal and empirical methods in philosophy of science

Vincenzo Crupi

Stephan Hartmann

pp. 87-98

in: Friedrich Stadler (ed), The present situation in the philosophy of science, Berlin, Springer, 2010

Abstract

This essay addresses the methodology of philosophy of science and illustrates how formal and empirical methods can be fruitfully combined. Special emphasis is given to the application of experimental methods to confirmation theory and to recent work on the conjunction fallacy, a key topic in the rationality debate arising from research in cognitive psychology. Several other issues can be studied in this way. In the concluding section, a brief outline is provided of three further examples.