Lakatosian Research Programme Research Articles

Theology and Science within a Lakatosian Program

The writings of Ian Barbour and Arthur Peacocke can be construed as initial contributions to a Lakatosian research program on the relation between theology and science, the core theory of which is the thesis that theology belongs at the top of a nonreducible hierarchy of sciences. The positive heuristic of this program involves showing that theology and the sciences have enough in common epistemologically to be so related and arguing for nonreducibility. The author in this essay “rationally reconstructs” some of her philosophical work as a contribution to these tasks.

Research traditions in comparative context: A philosophical challenge to radical constructivism

Constructivism in science education has incorporated a multitude of perspectives. Many of these perspectives agree with the general assertion that knowledge is constructed. Two such projects are conceptual change theory and radical constructivism. In this article, I distinguish these two traditions based on four issues: ontology; epistemological commitments; view of learners; and authority of received ideas. I bring a philosophy of science perspective to bear, treating conceptual change theory and radical constructivism as Lakatosian research programs. Through this process the philosophical coherence of the radical constructivist research program is brought into question. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Research traditions in comparative context: A philosophical challenge to radical constructivism

Constructivism in science education has incorporated a multitude of perspectives. Many of these perspectives agree with the general assertion that knowledge is constructed. Two such projects are conceptual change theory and radical constructivism. In this article, I distinguish these two traditions based on four issues: ontology; epistemological commitments; view of learners; and authority of received ideas. I bring a philosophy of science perspective to bear, treating conceptual change theory and radical constructivism as Lakatosian research programs. Through this process the philosophical coherence of the radical constructivist research program is brought into question. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Positive Accounting Theory as a Lakatosian Research Programme

Abstract ‘Positive accounting theory’ fails to meet Popper's falsificationist criteria for scientific inquiry. This paper argues, however, that Lakatos' ‘methodology of scientific research programmes’ is superior to Popper's falsificationist methodology, and that ‘positive accounting research’ does meet Lakatos' criteria for ‘scientific' status. Within Lakatos’ philosophy of science, however, this claim does not necessarily represent an endorsement of positive accounting theory.

DISCIPLINING RELATIVISM AND TRUTH

Abstract. Imre Lakatos's philosophy of science can provide helpful leads for theological methodology, but only when mediated by the disciplines that lie between the natural sciences and theology. The questions of relativism and truth are used as indices for comparing disciplines, and Lakatos's theory of natural science is taken as the starting point. Major modifications of Lakatos's work are demanded as one moves from the natural sciences, through economics, the interpretive social sciences, literary theory, and into theology. Although theology may consist of Lakatosian research programs, it also includes programs of interpretation and programs for living. This conclusion must influence our definition of theological truth and our assessment of theological relativism.

THEOLOGICAL APPROPRIATION OF SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDINGS: RESPONSE TO HEFNER, WICKEN, EAVES, AND TIPLER

Abstract. Philip Hefner's focus on contingency and field as the guiding concepts in my thinking and his characterization of my theological enterprise as a Lakatosian research program are appropriate and helpful.I welcome Jeffrey Wicken's holistic approach to the emergence of life. Theology can appropriate the language of self‐organizing systems exploiting the thermodynamic flow of energy degradation for interpreting organic life as a creation of the Spirit of God.However, I cannot sympathize with Lindon Eaves's equation of “hard science” with a reductionism which raises the double helix to the status of icon; the “meaning” of DNA derives from its place in the total phenomenon of life—not the reverse.Frank Tipler's cosmology raises the prospect of a rapprochement between physics and theology in the area of eschatology. A Christian cosmology, however, would require at least three modifications: contingency in the history of creation; the uniqueness of Jesus' resurrection; and the relation of these to the problem of evil.

The Conceptual Bases of The War Trap

This article attempts to evaluate the claims of Bruce Bueno De Mesquita in The War Trap to have provided a deductive, expected utility theory of war initiation in the light of various criticisms that have been levied against him. The criticisms concern both the status of the model as a rational choice model and the evidence adduced in its support. It is suggested that the interpretation of the concept used in the theory as expected utility is both unnecessary and misleading, while the strong claim of the theory to provide necessary conditions for war initiation is refuted, not confirmed, by the evidence presented. However, a weaker, but still important claim may well be true, though only a part of the evidence presented is appropriate to support it. The assertion that the theory is a step forward in a Lakatosian Research Program, in that it explains more than its predecessors, is viewed skeptically.

An Ideal Model for the Growth of Knowledge in Research Programs

In this paper a model is presented for the growth of knowledge in a dynamic scientific system. A system which is in some respects an idealization of a Lakatosian research program. The kinematics of the system is described in terms of two probabilistic variables, one of which is related to the evolution of its theoretical component and the other—to the growth of the empirical component. It is shown that when the empirical growth is faster than the theoretical growth the posterior probability of the theoretical component increases. Thus, empirical progressiveness of a research program, as explicated in this model, is accompanied by an increase in the degree of confirmation. In such a case the system grows in a Popperian-like spirit, while learning from experience in a Bayesian manner.