天体生物学与科学认识论的变革
Astrobiology and the Transformation of Scientific Epistemology
- University of Zagreb（萨格勒布大学）
机构由 AI 辅助整理，请以论文原文为准。
AI总结：
该研究探讨天体生物学因“n=1问题”成为缺乏基础确定性的“暂态科学”，其与AI等新兴领域共同推动科学知识构建方式的变革。
AI中文摘要：
天体生物学在科学哲学中占据特殊位置：面对“n=1问题”（仅有一个可研究的生命样本），它试图研究地球以外的生命，却完全以地球生物圈为参照，这一约束带来了独特的认知挑战。与拥有明确预测框架的传统科学不同，天体生物学是一种可称为“暂态科学”的学科：它缺乏基础确定性，主要依赖溯因推理，所提出的假说可能数十年都无法验证。本质上，它是一门关于“缺失”的科学——缺失证据、确定性与类比，其进步在于完善概念与实验工具，以识别不熟悉的生命形式。这使得天体生物学与人工智能、认知科学等新兴领域一道，融入了更广泛的科学知识构建方式的变革，这些领域研究的现象无法通过直接经验获取。
英文摘要：
Astrobiology occupies an unusual position within the philosophy of science. Confronted with the n = 1 problem - having only a single example of life to study - it attempts to investigate life beyond Earth while relying entirely on Earth's biosphere as its reference point, a constraint that creates unique epistemic challenges. Unlike traditional sciences with clear predictive frameworks, astrobiology operates as what we might call a transient science: a discipline functioning without foundational certainties, relying predominantly on abductive reasoning, and confronting hypotheses that may remain untestable for decades. It is, in essence, a science of absence - of evidence, certainty, and analogy - where progress lies in refining conceptual and experimental tools to recognize unfamiliar forms of life. This positions astrobiology alongside emerging fields like artificial intelligence and cognitive science within a broader transformation of how scientific knowledge is constructed when dealing with phenomena that transcend direct empirical access.
