Dudleya Shapere’a koncepcja obserwacji bezpośredniej oraz jej zastosowania w naukach przyrodniczych i ścisłych

Abstrakt

Dudley Shapere’s Concept of Direct Observation and its application to natural and exact sciences

Direct observation is one of the most widely used category in the natural and exact sciences. As important modifications of its concept in the above area were made by Dudley Shapere, in this article it is presented together with the comments of its critics. Above all, applications of this concept in the exact and natural sciences are presented. We show that direct observation in Shapere’s sense works very well in the exact sciences but fails in the natural sciences. Therefore, we postulate that direct observation in Shapere’s sense may work as a criterion for distinguishing natural sciences from exact sciences. To check the criterion we apply it to assess its effectiveness in achieving the goal.