Understanding the various scientific theories in the history of science

Abstract

The aim of this research is to explore the philosophical position of various scientific theories based on the history and philosophy of science. This is because the philosophy of science, which has usually dealt mainly with epistemology and methodology, is extended to the concern of problems of ontology, that is, metaphysics. Determinism, which is rooted in the metaphysical belief that objective scientific knowledge exists independently of humankind’s perception, is comparable to a well-defined mechanism and can be described as “mathematization” of objective scientific knowledge—this is exemplified in the natural laws of dynamics established by Newton, Einstein, and Schrödinger. Conversely, if we move away from determinism, we need anthropomorphic concepts such as “possibility” and “contingency” to define the laws of nature. This paper investigates the shift from classical deterministic thought to the contingently perceived probabilistic theory, changes in scientific theories from a naturalistic viewpoint, and the convergence of theories achieved through this process. Since Darwin announced his theory of evolution, natural sciences have steadily undergone a shift from endeavoring to name, classify, and measure to emphasizing the transience of things, historical interest, and theorization. On the other hand, weak determinism states that things in the world are inevitable but also coincidental. Because there are coincidences, even if we know the current state of an object accurately, we cannot know its future state accurately; we can only know it probabilistically. It seems that things in the world occur through both necessity and coincidence and are not strictly determined. This kind of probabilistic weak determinism can be said to correspond to quantum theory and evolution theory.