A New Task for the Philosophy of Science

TL;DR

This paper advocates for a new philosophy of science that aligns more closely with the evolving aims of science, aiming to improve scientific rigor and societal benefit.

Contribution

It proposes a novel philosophy of science that integrates evolving scientific aims into practice, fostering a more rigorous and human-centered scientific approach.

Findings

Calls for philosophical reform to match scientific evolution

Suggests philosophy of science should be part of scientific practice

Envisions a more rigorous, human-centered science

Abstract

This paper argues that philosophers of science have before them an important new task that they urgently need to take up. It is to convince the scientific community to adopt and implement a new philosophy of science that does better justice to the deeply problematic basic intellectual aims of science than that which we have at present. Problematic aims evolve with evolving knowledge, that part of philosophy of science concerned with aims and methods thus becoming an integral part of science itself. The outcome of putting this new philosophy into scientific practice would be a new kind of science, both more intellectually rigorous and one that does better justice to the best interests of humanity.