2.6: Summary

The concept of using observation to learn about the world dates to ancient Roman philosophy. The Copernican Revolution demonstrated the potential of this method by developing models for the dynamic movement of objects through time and space. The philosophy of obtaining knowledge through observation was provided with an influential philosophical framework through the work of British philosophers in the 16th and 17th centuries, culminating in what became known as British Empiricism. The modern scientific method, an iterative process of observation, hypothesis, and testing, is used extensively in scientific research to this day, though many aspects of the process are still the subject of intense debate. Feminist empirical philosophers acknowledge that the social context of observations can have a fundamental effect on the scientific method. Feminist empiricism provides modifications to the modern scientific method that account for this effect.

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