Incommensurability and Related Matters

by Hoyningen-Huene, Paul; Sankey, Howard

• ISBN13: 9780792369899
• ISBN10: 0792369890
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-08-01
• Publisher: Kluwer Academic Pub

Summary

Incommensurability and Related Matters draws together some of the most distinguished contributors to the critical literature on the problem of the incommensurability of scientific theories. It addresses all the various problems raised by the problem of incommensurability, such as meaning change, reference of theoretical terms, scientific realism and anti-realism, rationality of theory choice, cognitive aspects of conceptual change, as well as exploring the broader implications of incommensurability for cultural difference. While it offers new work, and new directions of discussion, on the topic of incommensurability, the book also recapitulates the history of the discussion of the topic that has taken place within the literature on incommensurability.

Table of Contents

Introduction	vii
Howard Sankey
Paul Hoyningen-Huene
INCOMMENSURABILITY, MEANING AND REFERENCE
Reference, (In)commensurability and Meanings: Some (Perhaps) Unanticipated Complexities	1	(64)
Richard N. Boyd
Changing Laws and Shifting Concepts: On the Nature and Impact of Incommensurability	65	(26)
Martin Carrier
Ramsification, Reference Fixing and Incommensurability	91	(32)
Fred Kroon
Robert Nola
REALISM AND INCOMMENSURABILITY
Incommensurability and Reality	123	(20)
Harold I. Brown
Incommensurability and the Priority of Metaphysics	143	(16)
Michael Devitt
INCOMMENSURABILITY, RATIONALITY AND RELATIVISM
Incommensurability and the Normative Foundations of Scientific Knowledge	159	(22)
Gerald Doppelt
Reasons, Radical Change and Incommensurability in Science	181	(26)
Dudley Shapere
INCOMMENSURABILITY, MULTICULTURALISM AND SCIENCE EDUCATION
Incommensurability, Rationality and Relativism: In Science, Culture and Science Education	207	(18)
Harvey Siegel
Incommensurability and `Multicultural Science'	225	(16)
Hugh Lacey
INCOMMENSURABILITY, COGNITION AND CONCEPTUAL CHANGE
Incommensurability and Conceptual Change During the Copernican Revolution	241	(34)
Peter Barker
Concept Formation and Commensurability	275	(28)
Nancy J. Nersessian
Incommensurability Bibliography	303	(14)
Notes on Contributors	317	(4)
Index of Names	321