Philosophy of Science -Three Philosophical Perspectives on Software Reliability

Abstract

The question of philosophy of science has been always tackled by researchers coming from different fields and therefore possesses unequal stances. The present article aims at providing an introductory overview on the domain of philosophy of science by representing a general starting point for further research. Philosophic reasoning has always brought novelties. In this article we show how these novelties can be adapted to the environment of computer science. In doing so, we take a closer look on the software engineering research which is performed to enhance general software reliability. After briefly motivate the topic, we describe the main approaches Karl Raimund Popper, Thomas Kuhn as well as Wilhelm Kamlah and Paul Lorenzen propose in their work in a short but concise manner. Next, we attempt to exemplify the philosophers' ideas by applying their principal concepts to the field of software reliability. Finally, we conclude this report by summarizing the most important findings and by highlighting the adaptability of philosophical aspects.