From the Paper
"The question of observability as examined by Bas C. Van Fraassen and others is an issue of knowledge, of acceptable evidence, of the proper means for testing hypotheses, and of understanding the nature of scientific empiricism. Van Fraassen states that observability has clear limits in science, limits which he attempts to elucidate through examples and analysis. He finds that scientific theory must serve to explain what is observable to be accepted.

Van Fraassen begins by considering the opposition between empiricism and realism, leading to a consideration of the nature of observability from an empirical standpoint. In part, difficulties over the issue of observability can be seen as deriving from the progress of science over time. In earlier periods, realists held sway and depended on observability--what ..."

Abstract
This paper explores the fundamentals of the faith-based scientific ideology, scientific realism. The author takes a close look at the ideas and opinions of realists and anti-realists concluding that anti-realists, though many of their criticisms are valid, are often as likely to fall prey to the same lack of critical evaluation that they claim to plague scientific realism.

From the Paper
"Mach's argument could have been improved if he failed to accept contemporary arguments for the existence of sub-molecular particles until evidence existed that proved him wrong. In doing so, he would evoke a methodology in modern thought that many find credible: that which holds that scientific realism lacks the weight of true evidence and is more the matter of opinion than of critical inquiry and objective thought.

Scientific realism is a faith-based scientific ideology, one that maintains that we are warranted in believing in the unseen if it is posited by best explained and most popular scientific theories, which dominate by sheer weight of authority. In this sense it creates a mutualistic error - in trusting the consensus of beliefs among others were are most likely to emulate their mistakes. While mired in dogma, we can't purport to achieve paradigm changes in thought or in reaching a new and better methodology with which to evaluate and comprehend phenomena both material and immaterial. Although the discourse of empiricists remains of interest to us, it must be remembered that every new scientific idea that is posited as contrary to existing beliefs of the nature of science and existence faces not only critical inquiry but also the inertia maintained by generations of adherents that revere even the least factually justifiable ideologies."

Tags:mach, anti-realist, van, frassen, science, critical, thinking

Abstract
This paper provides an overview of the religious philosophies and teachings of Scholasticism and Humanism, followed by a discussion of the various permutations these have caused since their inception. It provides an analysis of how the scientific method emerged from this environment and a description of real-world applications of these principles in the classroom today. This is followed by a summary of the research in the conclusion. Several graphics are also provided.

Outline
Introduction
Review and Discussion
The History of Discovery
A. Physics
B. Astronomy
C. Chemistry
The Rise of Scientific Experimentation and Famous Experiments
A. Galileo
B. Newton
Methodology
Conclusion

From the Paper
"Religious Philosophies and Teachings. Scholasticism is the philosophic and theological movement that attempted to use natural human reason, in particular, the philosophy and science of Aristotle, to understand the supernatural content of Christian revelation. It was dominant in the medieval Christian schools and universities of Europe from about the middle of the 11th century to about the middle of the 15th century. The ultimate ideal of the movement was to integrate into an ordered system both the natural wisdom of Greece and Rome and the religious wisdom of Christianity."

Tags:aquinas, aristotelianism, augustine, curie, galileo, hobbes, humanism, isaac, kepler, locke, mendeleyev, method, newton, periodic, scholasticism, scientific, summa, table, theologiae

Abstract
This paper explores the importance of Peirce's background and flexibility as inducing particular views of educated culture's relationship to science and an account of scientific culture and practices less understood. The paper addresses links to pragmatism and American semantics, colleagues, accomplishments and the final twist in Peirce's continuing belief in the divine.

From the Paper
"Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) approached his day's debates on logic, science and the scientific method atop a fine New England scholarly and scientific heritage, a son of Sarah Hunt Mills and Benjamin Peirce, the brilliant Harvard professor of astronomy and mathematics. It is essential to understanding Peirce's contributions to recognize a mid-19th century Boston brahmin high culture whose ideals were frequently social or communitarian. Peirce's often unique remarks on science in relation to other disciplines come into view more clearly and particularly on science..."

Tags:c.s. peirce, reason/prag, rationale

Abstract
This proposal commences from a fixed question to indicate the importance of Mies van der Rohe's origins in a particular period in Germany as explains his philosophy of architecture and his undertakings. The paper shows how Mies van der Rohe's 'international modernism' was largely a reaction to all that went terribly wrong in German culture and society through the 1920s and 1930s.

From the Paper
"The periods in which Karl Friedrich Schenkel and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe lived were vastly different, their works expressing the spirits of contrasting ideals. The final project will attend to the sparseness of Mies van der Rohe's international modernism as a reflection of what members of his generation in Germany sustained, faith placed only in rationality, in contrast with Schenkel's day of great German confidence..."

Tags:mie van der rohe, product of period, implications

Abstract
This paper looks at Van Gogh's "Starry Night" and compares it to his "Shoes" painting - a painting that stands proudly on display at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. The paper discusses how both paintings are derivations of the same basic impressionistic template - but their differences, both subtle and otherwise, reveal how Van Gogh was a diverse painter who was more than capable of branching out in new directions.

From the Paper
"Vincent Van Gogh is renowned amongst art lovers for his remarkably vivid artwork, for his contributions to impressionism, and for his sheer unconventionality. However, his work should also be noted for its ability to give the ordinary and mundane - as well as ethereal outdoor tableaus - a certain resonance that would be beyond the capacity of most artists. With that in mind, the following paper will look at Van Gogh's "Starry Night" and compare it to his "Shoes" painting - a painting that stands proudly on display at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. In the end,..."

Tags:van, gogh, contrasting

Abstract
This paper examines the Japanese influence on the art of Vincent van Gogh. It discusses the elements of Japanese art which attracted him and why. The author explores specific works produced by van Gogh that illustrate the Japanese influence.

From the Paper
"Dutch artist, Vincent van Gogh, produced his world-renowned art in just a ten-year period. His influence on the century's art is considerable but the formative influences on his own art are also greatly significant in terms of his development as an artist, Van Gogh ..."

Tags:Van, Gogh, Japanese, Art, Artist

Abstract
This paper reviews and discusses the short story 'Rip van Winkle', written by Washington Irving. According to the paper, the story of 'Rip van Winkle' features comic tension and interplay between the chronological, and political, present and past.

From the Paper
" Irving comically implies, considering the circumstances of Dame van Winkle's death, that it is unhealthy to live filled with pique; anger, and anxiety (often the stuff of human drive and "progress"): she "broke a blood-vessel in a fit of passion at a New England pedlar sic]" (Irving, "Rip van Winkle", 1819). In contrast, Rip takes life as it comes; lives long, and gains respect and affection from the next generation, having now reached "that happy age when a man can do nothing with impunity" (Irving). Therefore, Rip now "took his place once more on the bench, at the inn door, and was reverenced as one of the patriarchs of the village, and a chronicle of the old times "before the war." ("Rip Van Winkle"). "

Tags:ambition, Dame, van, Winkle, misery, protracted, sleep, respect

Abstract
This paper compares two landscape paintings; Van Gogh's "Ravine" and Constable's "Weymouth Bay" from the Downs above Osmington Mills. The paper considers the different perspectives of each artist and their different styles.

From the Paper
"Many painters in different eras, cultures and stylistic genres, have shared a love of landscape painting. It is this love of the natural world and their own capacity as artists to evoke elements of that world which links together the two painters whose work is the focus of this essay. These artists are England's John Constable and Holland's Vincent Van Gogh. It will be argued herein that when one examines and compares a landscape painting by each of these two..."

Tags:Vincent Van Gogh, John Constable, art, painting, landscape, artist

Abstract
The paper considers Irving's "Rip Van Winkle" as an exercise in nostalgia. The paper answers the question: What is the price of social progress?

From the Paper
""Rip Van Winkle" The Price of Social Progress. Washington Irving's short story "Rip Van Winkle" is often considered the first truly American folk tale. Indeed while Irving borrows elements from the German tradition, the setting and historical context are so distinctly American that the reader is given a glimpse into the early cultural landscape of the nation. Even within the story itself the idea of the past is central as Rip's slumbers allows for a comparison between the pre and post-Revolutionary worlds."

Tags:rip van winkle, irving, social progress, change, revolutionary war, nostalgia