Philosophy of Science: Contemporary Readings

Yuri Balashov, Alex Rosenberg0415257824, 9780415257824, 9780415257817, 0415257816

Philosophy of Science: Contemporary Readings is a comprehensive anthology that draws together leading philosophers writing on the major themes in the philosophy of science. Sections are: Science and Philosophy; Explanation; Causation and Laws; Scientific Theories and Conceptual Change; Scientific Realism; Testing and Confirmation of Theories; and Science in Context. Each section is prefaced by an introductory essay by the editors.

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Table of contents :
Preface……Page 6
Acknowledgements……Page 7
PART I: SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY……Page 11
Introduction……Page 12
1 Moritz Schlick, “The Future of Philosophy”……Page 17
2 Alex Rosenberg, “Biology and Its Philosophy”……Page 31
Questions……Page 43
Further Reading……Page 44
PART II : EXPLANATION, CAUSATION, AND LAWS……Page 46
Introduction……Page 48
3 Carl Hempel, “Two Models of Scientific Explanation”……Page 54
4 Bas van Fraassen, “The Pragmatics of Explanation”……Page 65
5 Philip Kitcher, “Explanatory Unification and the CausalStructure of the World”……Page 80
6 Wesley C. Salmon, “Scientific Explanation: Causationand Unification”……Page 101
7 J .L. Mackie, “The Logic of Conditionals”……Page 115
8 John Earman, “Laws of Nature”……Page 124
Questions……Page 134
Further Reading……Page 135
PART III: SCIENTIFIC THEORIES ANDCONCEPTUAL CHANGE……Page 136
Introduction……Page 138
9 Ernest Nagel, “Experimental Laws and Theories”……Page 141
10 Paul Feyerabend, “Explanation, Reduction, and Empiricism”……Page 150
11 Philip Kitcher, “Theories, Theorists and Theoretical Change”……Page 172
Questions……Page 197
Further Reading……Page 198
PART IV: SCIENTIFIC REALISM……Page 200
Introduction……Page 202
12 Ernest Nagel, “The Cognitive Status of Theories”……Page 206
13 Larry Laudan, “A Confutation of Convergent Realism”……Page 220
14 Gary Gutting, “Scientific Realism versus ConstructiveEmpiricism: A Dialogue”……Page 243
15 Ernan McMullin, “A Case for Scientific Realism”……Page 257
Further Reading……Page 290
PART V: TESTING AND CONFIRMATIONOF THEORIES……Page 292
Introduction……Page 294
16 Bertrand Russell, “On Induction”……Page 298
17 Karl Popper, “Science: Conjectures and Refutations”……Page 303
18 Karl Popper, “Darwinism as a Metaphysical ResearchProgramme”……Page 311
19 Charles Darwin, “Difficulties of the Theory”……Page 314
20 Peter Achinstein, “The Grue Paradox”……Page 316
21 N. Russell Hanson, “Seeing and Seeing As”……Page 330
22 W.V. Quine, “Two Dogmas of Empiricism”……Page 349
23 Larry Laudan and Jarrett Leplin, “Empirical Equivalenceand Underdetermination”……Page 371
24 Wesley Salmon, “Bayes’s Theorem and The Historyof Science”……Page 394
Questions……Page 411
Further Reading……Page 412
PART VI: SCIENCE IN CONTEXT: THE CHALLENGEOF HISTORY AND SOCIOLOGY……Page 414
Introduction……Page 416
25 Dudley Shapere, “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions”……Page 419
26 Thomas Kuhn, “Objectivity, Value Judgment, and TheoryChoke”……Page 430
27 David Bloor, “The Strong Programme in the Sociology ofKnowledge”……Page 447
28 Elizabeth Anderson, “Feminist Epistemology: AnInterpretation and a Defense”……Page 468
29 Ernan McMullin, “The Social Dimensions of Science”……Page 498
Questions……Page 509
Further Reading……Page 510
Bibliography……Page 511
Index……Page 516