2007: “Naturalized Philosophy of Science: A cognitive approach

urrent debates in philosophy show an important distinction between naturalistic and non-naturalistic approaches. The explanatory power and shortcomings of both perspectives are discussed, and some consequences of a naturalistic perspective in the Philosophy of Science are explored. It is argued that every investigation into the scientific enterprise needs to consider the cognitive abilities of human beings, including scientists. Next to historical and sociological factors cognitive abilities are at the center of problem-solving or decision-making of individual scientists and therefore of paramount importance. Such an empirically based cognitive Philosophy of Science is demonstrated. This has often been called for, but has almost never been implemented. There are hardly any attempts to link empirical results from Cognitive Science to historical scientific case studies. This article argues for such an approach and puts it into practice with three short case studies. The main tenets of a naturalized Philosophy of Science are then derived from these considerations