The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q14: What is this science thing?

Nov 6, 2025

Explore the evolution of science as Wes discusses how industrial structures shaped empirical understanding. Delve into Francis Bacon's ideas on experimental knowledge and the tension between functional truth and traditional authority. Learn about the impact of technological advancements like Watt’s steam engine and Perkins’ mauve dye on the R&D landscape. The podcast examines how science adapts through markets and cultural shifts, illustrating that empirical testing can replace outdated authorities. Finally, witness the ongoing influence of empirical thought in modern policy and innovation.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Empiricism Industrialized

Wes Cecil frames the scientific revolution as "empiricism industrialized," combining Enlightenment empiricism with industrial structure.
This fusion created a new worldview that prioritizes tested, functional knowledge over transcendental certainty.

INSIGHT

Function Over Transcendence

Empiricism treats sense perception as the origin of knowledge but accepts correction via experimentation and replication.
Its aim is functional truth: if it works, it's good enough even without transcendental certainty.

INSIGHT

Technology Can Precede Theory

Technological advances predate scientific explanations; Watt's steam engine preceded kinetic gas theory by decades.
You can build useful technology without full scientific understanding, but industrial infrastructure enables scaling.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

The History of Philosophy in 16 Questions - Q14: What is this science thing?

Now my method, though hard to practice, is easy to explain; and it is this. I propose to establish progressive stages of certainty. The evidence of the sense, helped and guarded by a certain process of correction, I retain. But the mental operation which follows the act of sense I for the most part reject; and instead of it I open and lay out a new and certain path for the mind to proceed in, starting directly from the simple sensuous perception. Novum Organum 1620

Empiricism and idealism alike are faced with a problem to which, so far, philosophy has found no satisfactory solution. This is the problem of showing how we have knowledge of other things than ourself and the operations of our own mind. Bertrand Russell (1945)

James Watt creates a really good steam engine around 1790

Maxwell and Boltzmann establish a kinetic theory of gas 1860s.

Having invented the dye [1856], Perkin was still faced with the problems of raising the capital for producing it, manufacturing it cheaply, adapting it for use in dyeing cotton, gaining acceptance for it among commercial dyers, and creating public demand for it. He was active in all of these areas: he persuaded his father to put up the capital, and his brothers to partner with him to build a factory; he invented a mordant for cotton; he gave technical advice to the dyeing industry; and he publicised his invention of the dye. William Perkin

Between 1405 and 1433 Ming China sent out huge "Treasure Fleets" to the Indian Ocean and beyond. Then Stopped.

1877 Thomas Edison establishes one of the first pure research and development labs in Menlo Park.

Currently, world research and development spending is in excess of one TRILLION dollars.

Next Week: "Truth?"

Sign-up for Wes’s PATREON to get your questions answered by Wes!

Plus, gain access to course materials, reading lists, peer discussions, bonus lectures, and Wes’s weekly diaries from France. Only $2 / month.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.