In 1971 The Norwegian Construction Worker Arnold Juklerød Was Involved In A Campaign: Philosophy Of Science Essay, TCD, Ireland

Question 1 –

Philosophy of Science: In 1971 the Norwegian construction worker Arnold Juklerød was involved in a campaign against the closure of a local school. Due to his activism, he was involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric hospital for “incorrigible paranoid delusions”. Because of the way he relentlessly fought the admission, his behavior was later explained by the diagnosis “Paranoia 297.0, Religious quarrelsome type”. The case was subject to public debate and some of the participants in that debate held the diagnosis to be politically motivated and possibly unscientific. Many years later he received an unconditional admission from the Ministry of Education and Research that he was wrongfully admitted. He occupied the hospital area until his death to protest Norwegian psychiatry. Using the notions of hypothesis, law, and cause, formulate a proposal for how to articulate the scientific explanation given for Juklerød’s behavior.  How can scientific inferences be used to support the explanation? Discuss possible problems for whether the diagnosis he was given is scientific, with a view to issues like the falsification criterion, the value-dependence of science, and the nature of the disease.