Metaphysics And The Disunity Of Scientific Knowledge

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Metaphysics and the Disunity of Scientific Knowledge

Author : Steve Clarke
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 172 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 1998
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : UOM:39015042039910

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Metaphysics and the Disunity of Scientific Knowledge by Steve Clarke Pdf

The central current of ideas in modern philosophy - through Hume, Kant and Hegel, to the present - can be understood as a reaction to the percieved threat of disorder. Against this background, the author argues for acceptance of a metaphysics of disorder, and outlines a number of important philosophical consequences of such an acceptance. When appropriately constrained by empiricist concern, such a metaphysics allows us to make sense of ourselves as as knowers who must make do in a world of complexity and uncertainty. We make do by learning to export knowledge, gained where we can get it, to the many situations where knowledge eludes us. An account of causal and idealizational reasoning in science, which has much in common with the recent work of Nancy Cartwright, is developed to exemplify the main argument. The author's philosophical position is contrasted with that of recent post modernists, notably Richard Rorty.

The Disorder of Things

Author : John Dupré
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 324 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 1993
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0674212614

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The Disorder of Things by John Dupré Pdf

With this manifesto, John Dupré systematically attacks the ideal of scientific unity by showing how its underlying assumptions are at odds with the central conclusions of science itself.

Metaphysics and the Disunity of Scientific Knowledge

Author : Steve Clarke
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 199 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2018-10-26
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780429832642

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Metaphysics and the Disunity of Scientific Knowledge by Steve Clarke Pdf

First published in 1998, this volume’s primary concern is to demonstrate how a metaphysics can be developed which enables us to make do in an uncertain world and to develop a pragmatic alternative to postmodernism. Opposing unificationist view of science, Clarke suggests, needs to be understood in the context of the perceived threat of metaphysical disorder. He explores this through issues including epistemology, fundamentalism, pluralism and idealisation and identifies a potential solution similar to the work of Otto Neurath.

The Disunity of Science

Author : Peter Louis Galison,David J. Stump
Publisher : Stanford University Press
Page : 584 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 1996
Category : Science
ISBN : 0804725624

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The Disunity of Science by Peter Louis Galison,David J. Stump Pdf

Is science unified or disunified? Over the last century, the question has raised the interest (and hackles) of scientists, philosophers, historians, and sociologists of science, for at stake is how science and society fit together. Recent years have seen a turn largely against the rhetoric of unity, ranging from the please of condensed matter physicists for disciplinary autonomy all the way to discussions in the humanities and social sciences that involve local history, feminism, multiculturalism, postmodernism, scientific relativism and realism, and social constructivism. Many of these varied aspects of the debate over the disunity of science are reflected in this volume, which brings together a number of scholars studying science who otherwise have had little to say to each other: feminist theorists, philosophers of science, sociologists of science. How does the context of discover shape knowledge? What are the philosophical consequences of a disunified science? Does, for example, an antirealism, a realism, or an arealism become defensible within a picture of local scientific knowledge? What politics lies behind and follows from a picture of the world of science more like a quilt than a pyramid? Who gains and loses if representation of science has standards that vary from place to place, field to field, and practitioner to practitioner.

A Metaphysics for Scientific Realism

Author : Anjan Chakravartty
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 235 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2007-10-18
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781139468398

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A Metaphysics for Scientific Realism by Anjan Chakravartty Pdf

Scientific realism is the view that our best scientific theories give approximately true descriptions of both observable and unobservable aspects of a mind-independent world. Debates between realists and their critics are at the very heart of the philosophy of science. Anjan Chakravartty traces the contemporary evolution of realism by examining the most promising strategies adopted by its proponents in response to the forceful challenges of antirealist sceptics, resulting in a positive proposal for scientific realism today. He examines the core principles of the realist position, and sheds light on topics including the varieties of metaphysical commitment required, and the nature of the conflict between realism and its empiricist rivals. By illuminating the connections between realist interpretations of scientific knowledge and the metaphysical foundations supporting them, his book offers a compelling vision of how realism can provide an internally consistent and coherent account of scientific knowledge.

The Metaphysics of Science

Author : Craig Dilworth
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 257 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2013-04-17
Category : Science
ISBN : 9789401586214

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The Metaphysics of Science by Craig Dilworth Pdf

The roots of this work lie in my earlier book, Scientific Progress, which first appeared in 1981. One of its topics, the distinction between scientific laws and theories, is there treated with reference to the same distinction as drawn by N. R. Campbell in his Physics: The Elements. Shortly after completing Scientific Progress, I read Rom Harre's The Principles of Scientific Thinking, in which the concept of theory is even more clearly delineated than in Campbell, being directly con nected to the notion of a model - as it was in my book. In subsequent considerations regarding science, Harre's work thus became my main source of inspiration with regard to theories, while Campbell's re mained my main source with respect to empiricallaws. Around the same time I also read William Whewell's Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences. In this work, Whewell depicts principles as playing a central role in the formation of science, and conceives of them in much the same way as Kant conceives of fundamental syn thetic a priori judgements. The idea that science should have principles as a basic element immediately made sense to me, and from that time I have thought of science in terms of laws, theories and principles.

Scientific Metaphysics

Author : Don Ross,James Ladyman,Harold Kincaid
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 254 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2013-01-17
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780199696499

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Scientific Metaphysics by Don Ross,James Ladyman,Harold Kincaid Pdf

Original essays by leading philosophers of science explore the question of whether metaphysics can and should be naturalised - conducted as part of natural science. They engage with a range of approaches and disciplines to argue that if metaphysics is to be capable of identifying objective truths, it must be continuous with and inspired by science.

Physics and Metaphysics

Author : Jennifer Trusted
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 223 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2003-09-01
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781134929719

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Physics and Metaphysics by Jennifer Trusted Pdf

Jennifer Trusted's new book argues that metaphysical beliefs are essential for scientific inquiry. The theories, presuppositions and beliefs that neither science nor everyday experience can justify are the realm of metaphysics, literally `beyond physics'. These basic beliefs form a framework for our activities and can be discovered in science, common sense and religion. By examining the history of science from the eleventh century to the present, this book shows how religious and mystical beliefs, as well as philosophical speculation have had a considerable role in motivating scientists and inspiring scientific inquiry. Physics and Metaphysics presupposes no technical knowledge of either philosophy or science. It is an ideal introduction to science and the important forces that have shaped its history and ideas.

The Disunity of American Culture

Author : John C. Caiazza
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 295 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2017-07-28
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781351483544

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The Disunity of American Culture by John C. Caiazza Pdf

The Disunity of American Culture describes culture now, when different forces are influencing it than in the past, altering it to near incomprehensibility. Identity issues have an effect on culture and politics; more influential is the question of what support the state is obligated to provide the individual. John C. Caiazza seeks to explain how this situation came to be.He begins with an explanation of the origins of Protestantism in America. Caiazza describes how the American religion has declined and the recent responses the decline has provoked. Caiazza follows with an analysis of science as it presently exists in American culture. The work of three scientists prominent in their respective fields—Steven Weinberg in physics, E. O. Wilson in biology, and Stanley Milgram in psychology—are examined with respect to how their work has influenced culture.The author examines the failure of America's school of philosophy, pragmatism, to explain the relationship between religion, science, and general culture, even though its founders, Charles S. Peirce and William James, made serious efforts to do so. He concludes by making the case that there is a contradiction between scientific reason and the claim of state power. Caiazza argues that cultural disharmony will guarantee that the secular state never achieves the dominance over culture and political life it desires.

Human Nature and the Limits of Science

Author : John Dupré
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 212 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780199248063

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Human Nature and the Limits of Science by John Dupré Pdf

Dupré warns that our understanding of human nature is being distorted by two faulty and harmful forms of pseudo-scientific thinking. He claims it is important to resist scientism - an exaggerated conception of what science can be expected to do.

Every Thing Must Go

Author : James Ladyman,Don Ross,Don Spurrett,David Spurrett,John Collier,John Gordon Collier
Publisher : Oxford University Press on Demand
Page : 359 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2007-07-05
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780199276196

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Every Thing Must Go by James Ladyman,Don Ross,Don Spurrett,David Spurrett,John Collier,John Gordon Collier Pdf

Every Thing Must Go argues that the only kind of metaphysics that can contribute to objective knowledge is one based specifically on contemporary science as it really is, and not on philosophers' a priori intuitions, common sense, or simplifications of science. In addition to showing how recent metaphysics has drifted away from connection with all other serious scholarly inquiry as a result of not heeding this restriction, they demonstrate how to build a metaphysicscompatible with current fundamental physics ('ontic structural realism'), which, when combined with their metaphysics of the special sciences ('rainforest realism'), can be used to unify physics with the other sciences without reducing these sciences to physics itself. Taking science metaphysically seriously,Ladyman and Ross argue, means that metaphysicians must abandon the picture of the world as composed of self-subsistent individual objects, and the paradigm of causation as the collision of such objects.Everything Must Go also assesses the role of information theory and complex systems theory in attempts to explain the relationship between the special sciences and physics, treading a middle road between the grand synthesis of thermodynamics and information, and eliminativism about information. The consequences of the author's metaphysical theory for central issues in the philosophy of science are explored, including the implications for the realism vs. empiricism debate, the role ofcausation in scientific explanations, the nature of causation and laws, the status of abstract and virtual objects, and the objective reality of natural kinds.

Recent Themes in the Philosophy of Science

Author : S. Clarke,T.D. Lyons
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 232 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2013-03-09
Category : Science
ISBN : 9789401728621

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Recent Themes in the Philosophy of Science by S. Clarke,T.D. Lyons Pdf

Australia and New Zealand boast an active community of scholars working in the field of history, philosophy and social studies of science. Australasian Studies in History and Philosophy of Science aims to provide a distinctive publication outlet for their work. Each volume comprises a group of thematically-connected essays edited by scholars based in Australia or New Zealand with special expertise in that particular area. In each volume, a majority ofthe contributors are from Australia or New Zealand. Contributions from elsewhere are by no means ruled out, however, and are actively encouraged wherever appropriate to the balance of the volume in question. Earlier volumes in the series have been welcomed for significantly advancing the discussion of the topics they have dealt with. I believe that the present volume will be greeted equally enthusiastically by readers in many parts of the world. R. W. Home General Editor Australasian Studies in History And Philosophy of Science viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The majority of the papers in this collection had their origin in the 2001 Australasian Association for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science annual conference, held at the University of Melbourne, where streams of papers on the themes of scientific realism and commonsense were organised.

Problem Of The Unity Of Science, The - Proceedings Of The Annual Meeting Of The International Academy Of The Philosophy Of Science

Author : Evandro Agazzi,Jan Faye
Publisher : World Scientific
Page : 212 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2001-11-28
Category : Science
ISBN : 9789814489737

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Problem Of The Unity Of Science, The - Proceedings Of The Annual Meeting Of The International Academy Of The Philosophy Of Science by Evandro Agazzi,Jan Faye Pdf

The unity of science has been a widely discussed issue both in the philosophy of science and within several sciences. Reductionism has often been seen as the means of bringing the different sciences to a fundamental unity by reference to some basic science, but it shows many limitations. Multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity have also been proposed as methodologies for attaining unity without underestimating the diversity of the sciences.This volume starts with a clarification of the possible meanings of this unity and then discusses the features of the mentioned approaches to unity, evaluating the success and the shortcomings of the unification programme among different sciences and within a single science.

On the Dual Uses of Science and Ethics

Author : Michael J. Selgelid,Brian Rappert
Publisher : ANU E Press
Page : 410 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2013-12-19
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781925021349

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On the Dual Uses of Science and Ethics by Michael J. Selgelid,Brian Rappert Pdf

Claims about the transformations enabled by modern science and medicine have been accompanied by an unsettling question in recent years: might the knowledge being produced undermine – rather than further – human and animal well being? On the Dual Uses of Science and Ethics examines the potential for the skills, know-how, information, and techniques associated with modern biology to serve contrasting ends. In recognition of the moral ambiguity of science and technology, each chapter considers steps that might be undertaken to prevent the deliberate spread of disease. Central to achieving this aim is the consideration of what role ethics might serve. To date, the ethical analysis of the themes of this volume has been limited. This book remedies this situation by bringing together contributors from a broad range of backgrounds to address a highly important ethical issue confronting humanity during the 21st century.

A Pluralist Theory of the Mind

Author : David Ludwig
Publisher : Springer
Page : 201 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2015-10-22
Category : Science
ISBN : 9783319227382

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A Pluralist Theory of the Mind by David Ludwig Pdf

This book challenges common debates in philosophy of mind by questioning the framework of placement problems in contemporary metaphysics. The author argues that placement problems arise when exactly one fundamental ontology serves as the base for all entities, and will propose a pluralist alternative that takes the diversity of our conceptual resources and ontologies seriously. This general pluralist account is applied to issues in philosophy of mind to argue that contemporary debates about the mind-body problem are built on this problematic framework of placement problems. The starting point is the plurality of ontologies in scientific practice. Not only can we describe the world in terms of physical, biological, or psychological ontologies, but any serious engagement with scientific ontologies will identify more specific ontologies in each domain. For example, there is not one unified ontology for biology, but rather a diversity of scientific specializations with different ontological needs. Based on this account of scientific practice the author argues that there is no reason to assume that ontological unification must be possible everywhere. Without this ideal, the scope of ontological unification turns out to be an open empirical question and there is no need to present unification failures as philosophically puzzling “placement problems”.