Foundation of psychologyChapter 9What is science? Science’s claim of superiority was based on four principlesRealism:There is a physical world with independent objects, which can be understood by human intellectObjectivity:Knowledge of the physical world does not depend on the observer.‘Objective’ agreement among people is possible, irrespective of their worldviews.Science aims to uncover this knowledge so that it becomes public, verifiable and useableTruthScientific statements are true when they correspond to the physical realityRationalityTruth is guaranteed because scientific statements are based on sound method. Thoughts before the scientific revolution Plato, Aristotle and the sceptics PlatoA strong rationalist view of knowledge acquisition.Human perception was fallible and the observable world was only a shadow of the Real world.The human soul had innate knowledge of the universe, which could be harnessedAristotleMore scope for observation and made a distinction between deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning.True, theoretical knowledge started from axioms, form which new knowledge was deduced via so-called demonstrations.Perception was the source of information but not knowledge itself.Correspondence theory of truth: a statement is...