Author : Samuel Schindler
Publisher :
Page : 263 pages
File Size : 20,51 MB
Release : 2018-05-24
Category : Science
ISBN : 1108422268
In-depth discussion of the value of scientific theories, bringing together and advancing current important debates in realism.
Author : P. D. Magnus
Publisher :
Page : 420 pages
File Size : 35,21 MB
Release : 2003
Category : Empiricism
ISBN :
Author : Willard Van Orman Quine
Publisher : Random House Trade
Page : 164 pages
File Size : 24,10 MB
Release : 1978
Category : Philosophy
ISBN :
The Web of Belief provides a philosophical base for the study and practice of the art of argumentation. Stressing the importance of language in understanding and expressing ideas, the authors explore such questions as: What concepts do we believe to be true and why? And how can we convince others to accept our own beliefs? Drawing on everyday problems of communication, creative exercises give the student practice in formulating and testing his own arguments, as well as those of others. --
Author : Samir Okasha
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 161 pages
File Size : 41,29 MB
Release : 2016
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0198745583
What is science? -- Scientific inference -- Explanation in science -- Realism and anti-realism -- Scientific change and scientific revolutions -- Philosophical problems in physics, biology, and psychology -- Science and its critics.
Author : Thomas Bonk
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 11 pages
File Size : 46,35 MB
Release : 2008-03-13
Category : Science
ISBN : 1402068999
This timely book offers a wide-ranging study of the thesis that scientific theories are systematically "underdetermined" by the data they account for. After analyzing the epistemological and ontological aspects of the topic in detail, and reviewing pertinent logical facts and selected scientific cases, the author carefully examines the merits of arguments for and against the thesis. Along the way, he investigates methodological proposals and recent theories of confirmation.
Author : Richard Dawid
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 213 pages
File Size : 31,18 MB
Release : 2013-05-02
Category : Science
ISBN : 1107067588
String theory has played a highly influential role in theoretical physics for nearly three decades and has substantially altered our view of the elementary building principles of the Universe. However, the theory remains empirically unconfirmed, and is expected to remain so for the foreseeable future. So why do string theorists have such a strong belief in their theory? This book explores this question, offering a novel insight into the nature of theory assessment itself. Dawid approaches the topic from a unique position, having extensive experience in both philosophy and high-energy physics. He argues that string theory is just the most conspicuous example of a number of theories in high-energy physics where non-empirical theory assessment has an important part to play. Aimed at physicists and philosophers of science, the book does not use mathematical formalism and explains most technical terms.
Author : Derek Turner
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 195 pages
File Size : 44,52 MB
Release : 2007-07-05
Category : Science
ISBN : 1139465058
Scientists often make surprising claims about things that no one can observe. In physics, chemistry, and molecular biology, scientists can at least experiment on those unobservable entities, but what about researchers in fields such as paleobiology and geology who study prehistory, where no such experimentation is possible? Do scientists discover facts about the distant past or do they, in some sense, make prehistory? In this book Derek Turner argues that this problem has surprising and important consequences for the scientific realism debate. His discussion covers some of the main positions in philosophy of science - realism, social constructivism, empiricism, and the natural ontological attitude - and shows how they relate to issues in paleobiology and geology. His original and thought-provoking book will be of wide interest to philosophers and scientists alike.
Author : Anjan Chakravartty
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 235 pages
File Size : 14,91 MB
Release : 2007-10-18
Category : Science
ISBN : 1139468391
Scientific realism is the view that our best scientific theories give approximately true descriptions of both observable and unobservable aspects of a mind-independent world. Debates between realists and their critics are at the very heart of the philosophy of science. Anjan Chakravartty traces the contemporary evolution of realism by examining the most promising strategies adopted by its proponents in response to the forceful challenges of antirealist sceptics, resulting in a positive proposal for scientific realism today. He examines the core principles of the realist position, and sheds light on topics including the varieties of metaphysical commitment required, and the nature of the conflict between realism and its empiricist rivals. By illuminating the connections between realist interpretations of scientific knowledge and the metaphysical foundations supporting them, his book offers a compelling vision of how realism can provide an internally consistent and coherent account of scientific knowledge.
Author : Abrol Fairweather
Publisher : Springer
Page : 353 pages
File Size : 38,76 MB
Release : 2014-05-27
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 3319046721
This book presents four bridges connecting work in virtue epistemology and work in philosophy of science (broadly construed) that may serve as catalysts for the further development of naturalized virtue epistemology. These bridges are: empirically informed theories of epistemic virtue; virtue theoretic solutions to under determination; epistemic virtues in the history of science; and the value of understanding. Virtue epistemology has opened many new areas of inquiry in contemporary epistemology including: epistemic agency, the role of motivations and emotions in epistemology, the nature of abilities, skills and competences, wisdom and curiosity. Value driven epistemic inquiry has become quite complex and there is a need for a responsible and rigorous process of constructing naturalized theories of epistemic virtue. This volume makes the involvement of the sciences more explicit and looks at the empirical aspect of virtue epistemology. Concerns about virtue epistemology are considered in the essays contained here, including the question: can any virtue epistemology meet both the normativity constraint and the empirical constraint? The volume suggests that these worries should not be seen as impediments but rather as useful constraints and desiderata to guide the construction of naturalized theories of epistemic virtue.
Author : W. H. Newton-Smith
Publisher : Wiley-Blackwell
Page : 596 pages
File Size : 34,56 MB
Release : 2001-10-08
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780631230205
Unmatched in the quality of its world-renowned contributors, this companion serves as both a course text and a reference book across the broad spectrum of issues of concern to the philosophy of science.
