A High School Philosophy & Science Club

Session 2: Scientific Hypothesis

November 22, 2025 · Carl G. Hempel, Philosophy of Natural Science, chs. 1–3
With the aim of strengthening students' ability to read philosophical texts closely and identify key concepts, the session began from students reading ideas share, then moved to a case discussion on Ignaz Semmelweis and the discovery of the cause of puerperal fever. The case opened up several core concepts in the philosophy of science: modus tollens and falsification, test implication, the theory-ladenness of observation, and induction and confirmation. Through discussion, participants saw how these abstract ideas connect to a real episode of scientific discovery — and how difficult it can be to determine what the evidence actually shows. For the written assignment, each student chose one or more of these concepts and wrote a short summary explaining the idea.