Collected Works, Volume I Scientific Rationality, the Human Condition, and 20th Century Cosmologies

by Grünbaum, Adolf

• ISBN13: 9780199989928
• ISBN10: 0199989923
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-08-15
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Adolf Grünbaum is one of the giants of 20th century philosophy of science. This volume is the first of three collecting his most essential and highly influential work. The essays collected in this first volume focus on three related areas. They discuss scientific rationality-the problem of what it takes for a theory to be called scientific, and ask whether it is plausible to draw a clear distinction between science and non-science as was famously proposed by Karl Popper. They delve into the debate between determinism and indeterminism, in both science and in the humanities. Grünbaum defends the position of the Humane Determinist, which then leads to a thorough criticism of the current theological approaches to ethics and morality-where Grünbaum defends an explicit Secular Humanism-as well as of prominent theistic interpretations of twentieth century physical cosmologies. The second volume is devoted to Grünbaum's writings on the Philosophy of Physics and Space-Time, and the third to his lectures on the Philosophy of Psychology and Psychoanalysis, including his 1985 Gifford Lectures, which are to be published for the first time.

Author Biography

Adolf Grünbaum is Andrew Mellon Professor of Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh, as well as co-chairman of its Center for Philosophy of Science (since 1978), Research Professor of Psychiatry (since 1979), and Primary Research Professor in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science (since 2006). He is the author of 15 books, including this 3-volume collection of his papers and lectures, as well as around 400 articles in journals and books

Table of Contents

Preface & Acknowledgments
Introduction

Part I: Scientific Rationality
1. Is Falsifiability the Touchstone of Scientific Rationality? Karl Popper Versus Inductivism (1976)
2. The Degeneration of Popper's Theory of Demarcation (1989)
3. The Falsifiability of Theories: Total or Partial? A Contemporary Evaluation of the Duhem-Quine Thesis (1962)
Appendix: A Letter from W.V.O. Quine of June 1, 1962

Part II: Determinism and the Human Condition
4. Free Will and Laws of Human Behavior (1972)
5. Historical Determinism, Social Activism, and Predictions in the Social Sciences (1956)
6. In Defense of Secular Humanism (1995)

Part III: Philosophy of the 20th Century Physical Cosmologies, and the Critique of Their Theological Interpretations
7. The Poverty of Theistic Cosmology (2004)
8. Theological Misinterpretations of Current Physical Cosmology (1998)
9. A New Critique of Theological Interpretations of Physical Cosmology (2000)
10. Pseudo-Creation of the Big Bang (1990)