Philosophy of science

The philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy which studies the philosophical foundations, assumptions, and implications of science, including the natural sciences such as physics and biology, and the social sciences, such as psychology and economics. In this respect, the philosophy of science is closely related to epistemology and ontology. It seeks to explain such things as: the nature of scientific statements and concepts; the way in which they are produced; how science explains, predicts and, through technology, harnesses nature; the means for determining the validity of information; the formulation and use of the scientific method; the types of reasoning used to arrive at conclusions; and the implications of scientific methods and models for the larger society, and for the sciences themselves.

Major contributors to the philosophy of science

• Roger Bacon
• Sir Francis Bacon
• Rudolph Carnap
• Auguste Comte
• René Descartes
• Empedocles
• Paul Feyerabend
• Galileo Galilei
• Immanuel Kant
• Thomas Kuhn
• Ernst Mach
• Isaac Newton
• Charles Peirce
• Michael Polanyi
• Sir Karl Popper
• Bertrand Russell
• Imre Lakatos
• Roy Bhaskar