Smoke and Mirrors: How Science Reflects Reality

by Brown,James Robert

• ISBN13: 9780415091800
• ISBN10: 0415091802
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1994-04-04
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

InSmoke and Mirrors, James Robert Brown fights back against figures such as Richard Rorty, Bruno Latour, Michael Ruse and Hilary Putnam who have attacked realistic accounts of science. This enlightening work also demonstrates that science mirrors the world in amazing ways. The metaphysics and epistemology of science, the role of abstraction, abstract objects, anda prioriways of getting at reality are all examined in this fascinating exploration of how science reflects reality. Both a defense of science and knowledge in general and a defense of a particular way of understanding science,Smoke and Mirrorswill be provocative and lively reading for all those who have an interest in how science works.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Acknowledgements	p. x
Introduction	p. 1
Explaining the Success of Science	p. 3
Smoke	p. 27
Rorty's Solidarity	p. 29
Latour's Prosaic Science	p. 41
The Naturalism of Ruse	p. 60
Putnam's Verification	p. 78
Mirrors	p. 89
Knowledge-In the Abstract	p. 91
Phenomena	p. 117
What is the Vector Potential?	p. 142
Proof and Truth in the Abstract Realm	p. 160
Afterword	p. 184
Notes	p. 185
Bibliography	p. 189
Index	p. 196
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