David Harriman's Articles
Science & Technology
Errors in Inductive Reasoning
David Harriman November 20, 2008
Examines several illustrative cases in which scientists failed to employ the principles of inductive logic properly and thereby arrived at faulty conclusions.
Science & Technology
Proof of the Atomic Theory
David Harriman May 20, 2008
Surveys the observations, experiments, and generalizations that led to the discovery and validation of the atomic theory of matter; and, using that process of validation as an example, outlines the three criteria that are essential to the proof of any broad theory.
Philosophy, Science & Technology
Isaac Newton: Discoverer of Universal Laws
David Harriman February 20, 2008
Examines key aspects of Newton’s discoveries, shows how he embraced and employed the scientific context established by giants who came before him (such as Galileo and Kepler), and indicates how he rose to even greater heights of explanation through a breathtaking unity of observation, experimentation, conceptual expansion, concept formation, generalization, induction.
Science & Technology
Induction and Experimental Method
David Harriman February 20, 2007
Examines the key experiments involved in Galileo’s kinematics and Newton’s optics, identifies the essential methods by which these scientists achieved their discoveries, and illustrates the principle that induction is inherent in valid conceptualization.
Science & Technology
The 19th-Century Atomic War
David Harriman May 20, 2006
Demonstrates the power of philosophy in the field of physics by presenting the 19th-century experimental evidence in support of the atomic theory, and by showing how 19th-century physicists—in the grips of post-Kantian philosophy—belligerently dismissed the evidence and steadfastly denied the existence of atoms.
History, Philosophy, Science & Technology
Enlightenment Science and Its Fall
David Harriman February 20, 2006
Examines the profound philosophical history surrounding the rise and fall of reason as the recognized method of scientific inquiry in the 18th and 19th centuries.