Prolegomena to an empirical philosophy of science

Abstract

We identify and address a set of foundational questions relevant to the project of an empirical philosophy of science, the most basic of which is the nature of the empirical. We review the task of distinguishing empirical from non-empirical questions by providing examples from our analysis of cognitive and learning practices in biomedical engineering laboratories. We emphasize that the empirical should be understood as rooted in the instrument, and that the instrument comprises the researcher, which includes elusive factors such as disciplinary identity, disposition, and values. The implications of this claim are examined in relation to three empirical approaches to the philosophy of science: historical, qualitative, and experimental.