Theory and Reality

by Godfrey-Smith, Peter

• ISBN13: 9780226300634
• ISBN10: 0226300633
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-08-01
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

How does science work? Does it tell us what the world is "really" like? What makes it different from other ways of understanding the universe? In Theory and Reality, Peter Godfrey-Smith addresses these questions by taking the reader on a grand tour of one hundred years of debate about science. The result is a completely accessible introduction to the main themes of the philosophy of science. Intended for undergraduates and general readers with no prior background in philosophy, Theory and Reality covers logical positivism; the problems of induction and confirmation; Karl Popper's theory of science; Thomas Kuhn and "scientific revolutions"; the views of Imre Lakatos, Larry Laudan, and Paul Feyerabend; and challenges to the field from sociology of science, feminism, and science studies. The book then looks in more detail at some specific problems and theories, including scientific realism, the theory-ladeness of observation, scientific explanation, and Bayesianism. Finally, Godfrey-Smith defends a form of philosophical naturalism as the best way to solve the main problems in the field. Throughout the text he points out connections between philosophical debates and wider discussions about science in recent decades, such as the infamous "science wars." Examples and asides engage the beginning student; a glossary of terms explains key concepts; and suggestions for further reading are included at the end of each chapter. However, this is a textbook that doesn't feel like a textbook because it captures the historical drama of changes in how science has been conceived over the last one hundred years. Like no other text in this field, Theory and Reality combines a survey of recent history of the philosophy of science with current key debates in language that any beginning scholar or critical reader can follow.

Author Biography

Peter Godfrey-Smith is an associate professor of philosophy and of history and philosophy of science at Stanford University. He is the author of Complexity and the Function of Mind in Nature.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
A Note for Those Teaching with the Book	xiii
Introduction	1	(18)
Setting Out	1	(1)
The Scope of the Theory	2	(3)
What Kind of Theory?	5	(3)
Three Answers, or Pieces of an Answer	8	(5)
Historical Interlude: A Sketch of the Scientific Revolution	13	(6)
Further Reading	18	(1)
Logic Plus Empiricism	19	(20)
The Empiricist Tradition	19	(3)
The Vienna Circle	22	(3)
Central Ideas of Logical Positivism	25	(5)
Problems and Changes	30	(4)
Logical Empiricism	34	(3)
On the Fall of Logical Empiricism	37	(2)
Further Reading	37	(2)
Induction and Confirmation	39	(18)
The Mother of All Problems	39	(1)
Induction, Deduction, Confirmation, and Explanatory Inference	40	(6)
The Ravens Problem	46	(4)
Goodman's ``New Riddle of Induction''	50	(7)
Further Reading	56	(1)
Popper: Conjecture and Refutation	57	(18)
Popper's Unique Place in the Philosophy of Science	57	(1)
Popper's Theory of Science	57	(4)
Popper on Scientific Change	61	(2)
Objections to Popper on Falsification	63	(4)
Objections to Popper on Confirmation	67	(4)
Further Comments on the Demarcation Problem	71	(4)
Further Reading	74	(1)
Kuhn and Normal Science	75	(12)
``The Paradigm Has Shifted''	75	(2)
Paradigms: A Closer Look	77	(2)
Normal Science	79	(3)
Anomaly and Crisis	82	(2)
Wrap-up of Normal Science	84	(3)
Further Reading	86	(1)
Kuhn and Revolutions	87	(15)
Considerable Upset	87	(1)
Revolutions and Their Aftermath	88	(3)
Incommensurability, Relativism, and Progress	91	(5)
The X-Rated ``Chapter X''	96	(2)
Final Thoughts on Kuhn	98	(4)
Further Reading	101	(1)
Lakatos, Laudan, Feyerabend, and Frameworks	102	(20)
After Structure	102	(1)
Lakatos and Research Programs	103	(5)
Laudan and Research Traditions	108	(2)
Anything Goes	110	(3)
An Argument from History That Haunts Philosophy	113	(2)
Pluralism and the Ramblings of Madmen	115	(2)
Taking Stock: Frameworks and Two-Process Theories of Science	117	(5)
Further Reading	121	(1)
The Challenge from Sociology of Science	122	(14)
Beyond Philosophy?	122	(1)
Robert Merton and the ``Old'' Sociology of Science	122	(3)
The Rise of the Strong Program	125	(3)
Leviathan and Latour	128	(8)
Further Reading	135	(1)
Feminism and Science Studies	136	(13)
``Science Is Political''	136	(1)
The Man of Reason	137	(2)
The Case of Primatology	139	(2)
Feminist Epistemology	141	(3)
Science Studies, the Science Wars, and the Sokal Hoax	144	(5)
Further Reading	148	(1)
Naturalistic Philosophy in Theory and Practice	149	(14)
What Is Naturalism?	149	(1)
Quine, Dewey, and Others	150	(5)
The Theory-Ladenness of Observation	155	(8)
Further Reading	162	(1)
Naturalism and the Social Structure of Science	163	(10)
Science as a Process	163	(4)
Kitcher and the Division of Scientific Labor	167	(2)
Social Structure and Empiricism	169	(4)
Further Reading	172	(1)
Scientific Realism	173	(17)
Strange Debates	173	(1)
Approaching Scientific Realism	174	(1)
A Statement of Scientific Realism	174	(6)
Challenges from Traditional Empiricism	180	(1)
Metaphysical Constructivism	181	(2)
Van Fraassen's View	183	(3)
Representation, Models, and Truth (Optional Section)	186	(4)
Further Reading	189	(1)
Explanation	190	(12)
Knowing Why	190	(1)
The Rise and Fall of the Covering Law Theory of Explanation	191	(3)
Causation, Unification, and More	194	(6)
Laws and Causes (Optional Section)	200	(2)
Further Reading	201	(1)
Bayesianism and Modern Theories of Evidence	202	(17)
New Hope	202	(1)
Understanding Evidence with Probability	203	(2)
The Subjectivist Interpretation of Probability	205	(3)
Assessing Bayesianism	208	(2)
Scientific Realism and Theories of Evidence	210	(4)
Procedural Naturalism (Optional Section)	214	(5)
Further Reading	217	(2)
Empiricism, Naturalism, and Scientific Realism?	219	(14)
A Muddy Paste?	219	(1)
The Apparent Tensions	220	(1)
Empiricism Reformed	221	(6)
A Last Challenge	227	(3)
The Future	230	(3)
Glossary	233	(10)
References	243	(12)
Index	255