Philosophy of Science The Central Issues

by Cover, J. A.; Curd, Martin

• ISBN13: 9780393971750
• ISBN10: 0393971759
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-03-17
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• More Book Details
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Summary

Unmatched in breadth and depth, Philosophy of Science addresses the pivotal questions that have occupied philosophers and scientists in this century. Forty-six readings by leading thinkers such as Thomas S. Kuhn, Sir Karl Popper, and Philip Kitcher examine issues ranging from models of explanation to theoretic confirmation and prediction; from the significance of rationality, values, and objectivity to the arguments for and against scientific empiricism and realism, with two unique chapters on "Science and Pseudoscience" and "Laws of Nature".

Table of Contents

Preface	xv	(2)
General Introduction	xvii
1 Science and Pseudoscience	1	(82)
INTRODUCTION	1	(2)
Karl Popper
Science: Conjectures and Refutations	3	(8)
Thomas S. Kuhn
Logic of Discovery or Psychology of Research?	11	(9)
Imre Lakatos
Science and Pseudoscience	20	(7)
Paul R. Thagard
Why Astrology Is a Pseudoscience	27	(11)
Michael Ruse
Creation-Science Is Not Science	38	(10)
Larry Laudan
Commentary: Science at the Bar--Causes for Concern	48	(6)
Michael Ruse
Response to the Commentary: Pro Judice	54	(8)
COMMENTARY	62	(21)
2 Rationality, Objectivity, and Values in Science	83	(172)
INTRODUCTION	83	(3)
Thomas S. Kuhn
The Nature and Necessity of Scientific Revolutions	86	(16)
Thomas S. Kuhn
Objectivity, Value Judgment, and Theory Choice	102	(17)
Ernan McMullin
Rationality and Paradigm Change in Science	119	(20)
Larry Laudan
Dissecting the Holist Picture of Scientific Change	139	(31)
Helen E. Longino
Values and Objectivity	170	(22)
Kathleen Okruhlik
Gender and the Biological Sciences	192	(18)
COMMENTARY	210	(45)
3 The Duhem-Quine Thesis and Underdetermination	255	(154)
INTRODUCTION	255	(2)
Pierre Duhem
Physical Theory and Experiment	257	(23)
W. V. Quine
Two Dogmas of Empiricism	280	(22)
Donald Gillies
The Duhem Thesis and the Quine Thesis	302	(18)
Larry Laudan
Demystifying Underdetermination	320	(34)
COMMENTARY	354	(55)
4 Induction, Prediction, and Evidence	409	(140)
INTRODUCTION	409	(3)
Peter Lipton
Induction	412	(14)
Karl Popper
The Problem of Induction	426	(7)
Wesley C. Salmon
Rational Prediction	433	(12)
Carl G. Hempel
Criteria of Confirmation and Acceptability	445	(15)
Laura J. Snyder
Is Evidence Historical?	460	(21)
Peter Achinstein
Explanation v. Prediction: Which Carries More Weight?	481	(13)
COMMENTARY	494	(55)
5 Confirmation and Relevance: Bayesian Approaches	549	(126)
INTRODUCTION	549	(2)
Wesley C. Salmon
Rationality and Objectivity in Science or Tom Kuhn Meets Tom Bayes	551	(33)
Clark Glymour
Why I Am Not a Bayesian
Paul Horwich
Wittgensteinian Bayesianism	607	(19)
COMMENTARY	626	(49)
6 Models of Explanation	675	(130)
INTRODUCTION	675	(3)
Rudolf Carnap
The Value of Laws: Explanation and Prediction	678	(7)
Carl G. Hempel
Two Basic Types of Scientific Explanation	685	(10)
Carl G. Hempel
The Thesis of Structural Identity	695	(11)
Carl G. Hempel
Inductive-Statistical Explanation	706	(14)
David-Hillel Ruben
Arguments, Laws, and Explanation	720	(26)
Peter Railton
A Deductive-Nomological Model of Probabilistic Explanation	746	(20)
COMMENTARY	766	(39)
7 Laws of Nature	805	(98)
INTRODUCTION	805	(3)
A. J. Ayer
What Is a Law of Nature?	808	(18)
Fred I. Dretske
Laws of Nature	826	(20)
D. H. Mellor
Necessities and Universals in Natural Laws	846	(19)
Nancy Cartwright
Do the Laws of Physics State the Facts?	865	(13)
COMMENTARY	878	(25)
8 Intertheoretic Reduction	903	(146)
INTRODUCTION	903	(2)
Ernest Nagel
Issues in the Logic of Reductive Explanations	905	(17)
Paul K. Feyerabend
How to Be a Good Empiricist--A Plea for Tolerance in Matters Epistemological	922	(28)
Thomas Nickles
Two Concepts of Intertheoretic Reduction	950	(21)
Philip Kitcher
1953 and All That: A Tale of Two Sciences	971	(33)
COMMENTARY	1004	(45)
9 Empiricism and Scientific Realism	1049	(242)
INTRODUCTION	1049	(3)
Grover Maxwell
The Ontological Status of Theoretical Entities	1052	(12)
Bas C. van Fraassen
Arguments Concerning Scientific Realism	1064	(24)
Alan Musgrave
Realism versus Constructive Empiricism	1088	(26)
Larry Laudan
A Confutation of Convergent Realism	1114	(22)
James Robert Brown
Explaining the Success of Science	1136	(17)
Ian Hacking
Experimentation and Scientific Realism	1153	(16)
David B. Resnik
Hacking's Experimental Realism	1169	(17)
Arthur Fine
The Natural Ontological Attitude	1186	(23)
Alan Musgrave
NOA's Ark--Fine for Realism	1209	(17)
COMMENTARY	1226	(65)
Glossary	1291	(20)
Bibliography	1311	(20)
Permissions Acknowledgments	1331	(4)
Name Index	1335	(14)
Subject Index	1349