Understanding Philosophy Of Science

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Understanding Philosophy of Science

James Ladyman
Understanding Philosophy of Science Book PDF

Author : James Ladyman
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 312 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2012-08-06
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781134597901

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Understanding Philosophy of Science by James Ladyman Pdf

Few can imagine a world without telephones or televisions; many depend on computers and the Internet as part of daily life. Without scientific theory, these developments would not have been possible. In this exceptionally clear and engaging introduction to philosophy of science, James Ladyman explores the philosophical questions that arise when we reflect on the nature of the scientific method and the knowledge it produces. He discusses whether fundamental philosophical questions about knowledge and reality might be answered by science, and considers in detail the debate between realists and antirealists about the extent of scientific knowledge. Along the way, central topics in philosophy of science, such as the demarcation of science from non-science, induction, confirmation and falsification, the relationship between theory and observation and relativism are all addressed. Important and complex current debates over underdetermination, inference to the best explaination and the implications of radical theory change are clarified and clearly explained for those new to the subject.

Scientific Understanding

Henk W. de Regt,Sabina Leonelli,Kai Eigner
Scientific Understanding Book PDF

Author : Henk W. de Regt,Sabina Leonelli,Kai Eigner
Publisher : University of Pittsburgh Pre
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780822971245

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Scientific Understanding by Henk W. de Regt,Sabina Leonelli,Kai Eigner Pdf

To most scientists, and to those interested in the sciences, understanding is the ultimate aim of scientific endeavor. In spite of this, understanding, and how it is achieved, has received little attention in recent philosophy of science. Scientific Understanding seeks to reverse this trend by providing original and in-depth accounts of the concept of understanding and its essential role in the scientific process. To this end, the chapters in this volume explore and develop three key topics: understanding and explanation, understanding and models, and understanding in scientific practice. Earlier philosophers, such as Carl Hempel, dismissed understanding as subjective and pragmatic. They believed that the essence of science was to be found in scientific theories and explanations. In Scientific Understanding, the contributors maintain that we must also consider the relation between explanations and the scientists who construct and use them. They focus on understanding as the cognitive state that is a goal of explanation and on the understanding of theories and models as a means to this end. The chapters in this book highlight the multifaceted nature of the process of scientific research. The contributors examine current uses of theory, models, simulations, and experiments to evaluate the degree to which these elements contribute to understanding. Their analyses pay due attention to the roles of intelligibility, tacit knowledge, and feelings of understanding. Furthermore, they investigate how understanding is obtained within diverse scientific disciplines and examine how the acquisition of understanding depends on specific contexts, the objects of study, and the stated aims of research.

Explaining Understanding

Stephen R. Grimm,Christoph Baumberger,Sabine Ammon
Explaining Understanding Book PDF

Author : Stephen R. Grimm,Christoph Baumberger,Sabine Ammon
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 338 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2016-10-04
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781317414162

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Explaining Understanding by Stephen R. Grimm,Christoph Baumberger,Sabine Ammon Pdf

What does it mean to understand something? What types of understanding can be distinguished? Is understanding always provided by explanations? And how is it related to knowledge? Such questions have attracted considerable interest in epistemology recently. These discussions, however, have not yet engaged insights about explanations and theories developed in philosophy of science. Conversely, philosophers of science have debated the nature of explanations and theories, while dismissing understanding as a psychological by-product. In this book, epistemologists and philosophers of science together address basic questions about the nature of understanding, providing a new overview of the field. False theories, cognitive bias, transparency, coherency, and other important issues are discussed. Its 15 original chapters are essential reading for researchers and graduate students interested in the current debates about understanding.

The Philosophy of Science

Anouk Barberousse,Denis Bonnay,Mikael Cozic
The Philosophy of Science Book PDF

Author : Anouk Barberousse,Denis Bonnay,Mikael Cozic
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 688 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2018-06-28
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780190690656

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The Philosophy of Science by Anouk Barberousse,Denis Bonnay,Mikael Cozic Pdf

Philosophy of science studies the methods, theories, and concepts used by scientists. It mainly developed as a field in its own right during the twentieth century and is now a diversified and lively research area. This book surveys the current state of the discipline by focusing on central themes like confirmation of scientific hypotheses, scientific explanation, causality, the relationship between science and metaphysics, scientific change, the relationship between philosophy of science and science studies, the role of theories and models, unity of science. These themes define general philosophy of science. The book also presents sub-disciplines in the philosophy of science dealing with the main sciences: logic, mathematics, physics, biology, medicine, cognitive science, linguistics, social sciences, and economics. While it is common to address the specific philosophical problems raised by physics and biology in such a book, the place assigned to the philosophy of special sciences is much more unusual. Most authors collaborate on a regular basis in their research or teaching and share a common vision of philosophy of science and its place within philosophy and academia in general. The chapters have been written in close accordance with the three editors, thus achieving strong unity of style and tone.

Understanding, Explanation, and Scientific Knowledge

Kareem Khalifa
Understanding Explanation and Scientific Knowledge Book PDF

Author : Kareem Khalifa
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 265 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2017-10-05
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781107195639

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Understanding, Explanation, and Scientific Knowledge by Kareem Khalifa Pdf

The first comprehensive exploration of the nature and value of understanding, addressing burgeoning debates in epistemology and philosophy of science.

Understanding Institutions

Francesco Guala
Understanding Institutions Book PDF

Author : Francesco Guala
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2023-01-10
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780691242354

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Understanding Institutions by Francesco Guala Pdf

A groundbreaking new synthesis and theory of social institutions Understanding Institutions proposes a new unified theory of social institutions that combines the best insights of philosophers and social scientists who have written on this topic. Francesco Guala presents a theory that combines the features of three influential views of institutions: as equilibria of strategic games, as regulative rules, and as constitutive rules. Guala explains key institutions like money, private property, and marriage, and develops a much-needed unification of equilibrium- and rules-based approaches. Although he uses game theory concepts, the theory is presented in a simple, clear style that is accessible to a wide audience of scholars working in different fields. Outlining and discussing various implications of the unified theory, Guala addresses venerable issues such as reflexivity, realism, Verstehen, and fallibilism in the social sciences. He also critically analyses the theory of "looping effects" and "interactive kinds" defended by Ian Hacking, and asks whether it is possible to draw a demarcation between social and natural science using the criteria of causal and ontological dependence. Focusing on current debates about the definition of marriage, Guala shows how these abstract philosophical issues have important practical and political consequences. Moving beyond specific cases to general models and principles, Understanding Institutions offers new perspectives on what institutions are, how they work, and what they can do for us.

Understanding Scientific Understanding

Henk W. de Regt
Understanding Scientific Understanding Book PDF

Author : Henk W. de Regt
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 321 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2017
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780190652913

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Understanding Scientific Understanding by Henk W. de Regt Pdf

Putting scientific understanding center-stage within the study of scientific explanations, Understanding Scientific Understanding develops and defends a philosophical theory of scientific understanding that can describe and explain the historical variation of criteria for understanding actually employed by scientists. Book jacket.

An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science

Kent W. Staley
An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science Book PDF

Author : Kent W. Staley
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 301 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2014-11-06
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780521112499

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An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science by Kent W. Staley Pdf

This book explores central philosophical concepts, issues, and debates in the philosophy of science, both historical and contemporary.

Theory and Reality

Peter Godfrey-Smith
Theory and Reality Book PDF

Author : Peter Godfrey-Smith
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 412 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2021-07-16
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780226771137

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Theory and Reality by Peter Godfrey-Smith Pdf

How does science work? Does it tell us what the world is “really” like? What makes it different from other ways of understanding the universe? In Theory and Reality, Peter Godfrey-Smith addresses these questions by taking the reader on a grand tour of more than a hundred years of debate about science. The result is a completely accessible introduction to the main themes of the philosophy of science. Examples and asides engage the beginning student, a glossary of terms explains key concepts, and suggestions for further reading are included at the end of each chapter. Like no other text in this field, Theory and Reality combines a survey of recent history of the philosophy of science with current key debates that any beginning scholar or critical reader can follow. The second edition is thoroughly updated and expanded by the author with a new chapter on truth, simplicity, and models in science.

Philosophy Of Science

Alexander Bird
Philosophy Of Science Book PDF

Author : Alexander Bird
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 328 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2006-05-09
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781135364236

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Philosophy Of Science by Alexander Bird Pdf

An up-to-date, clear but rigorous introduction to the philosophy of science offering an indispensable grounding in the philosophical understanding of science and its problems. The book pays full heed to the neglected but vital conceptual issues such as the nature of scientific laws, while balancing and linking this with a full coverage of epistemological problems such as our knowledge of such laws.

Scientific Models in Philosophy of Science

Daniela M. Bailer-Jones
Scientific Models in Philosophy of Science Book PDF

Author : Daniela M. Bailer-Jones
Publisher : University of Pittsburgh Pre
Page : 252 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2009-09-13
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780822971238

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Scientific Models in Philosophy of Science by Daniela M. Bailer-Jones Pdf

Scientists have used models for hundreds of years as a means of describing phenomena and as a basis for further analogy. In Scientific Models in Philosophy of Science, Daniela Bailer-Jones assembles an original and comprehensive philosophical analysis of how models have been used and interpreted in both historical and contemporary contexts. Bailer-Jones delineates the many forms models can take (ranging from equations to animals; from physical objects to theoretical constructs), and how they are put to use. She examines early mechanical models employed by nineteenth-century physicists such as Kelvin and Maxwell, describes their roots in the mathematical principles of Newton and others, and compares them to contemporary mechanistic approaches. Bailer-Jones then views the use of analogy in the late nineteenth century as a means of understanding models and to link different branches of science. She reveals how analogies can also be models themselves, or can help to create them. The first half of the twentieth century saw little mention of models in the literature of logical empiricism. Focusing primarily on theory, logical empiricists believed that models were of temporary importance, flawed, and awaiting correction. The later contesting of logical empiricism, particularly the hypothetico-deductive account of theories, by philosophers such as Mary Hesse, sparked a renewed interest in the importance of models during the 1950s that continues to this day. Bailer-Jones analyzes subsequent propositions of: models as metaphors; Kuhn's concept of a paradigm; the Semantic View of theories; and the case study approaches of Cartwright and Morrison, among others. She then engages current debates on topics such as phenomena versus data, the distinctions between models and theories, the concepts of representation and realism, and the discerning of falsities in models.

Philosophy of Physics

David Wallace
Philosophy of Physics Book PDF

Author : David Wallace
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 169 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2021
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780198814320

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Philosophy of Physics by David Wallace Pdf

Philosophy of physics is concerned with the deepest theories of modern physics - quantum theory, our theories of space, time and symmetry, and thermal physics - and their strange, even bizarre conceptual implications. This book explores the core topics in philosophy of physics, and discusses their relevance for both scientists and philosophers.

Philosophy of Science for Scientists

Lars-Göran Johansson
Philosophy of Science for Scientists Book PDF

Author : Lars-Göran Johansson
Publisher : Springer
Page : 257 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2015-12-17
Category : Science
ISBN : 9783319265513

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Philosophy of Science for Scientists by Lars-Göran Johansson Pdf

This textbook offers an introduction to the philosophy of science. It helps undergraduate students from the natural, the human and social sciences to gain an understanding of what science is, how it has developed, what its core traits are, how to distinguish between science and pseudo-science and to discover what a scientific attitude is. It argues against the common assumption that there is fundamental difference between natural and human science, with natural science being concerned with testing hypotheses and discovering natural laws, and the aim of human and some social sciences being to understand the meanings of individual and social group actions. Instead examines the similarities between the sciences and shows how the testing of hypotheses and doing interpretation/hermeneutics are similar activities. The book makes clear that lessons from natural scientists are relevant to students and scholars within the social and human sciences, and vice versa. It teaches its readers how to effectively demarcate between science and pseudo-science and sets criteria for true scientific thinking. Divided into three parts, the book first examines the question What is Science? It describes the evolution of science, defines knowledge, and explains the use of and need for hypotheses and hypothesis testing. The second half of part I deals with scientific data and observation, qualitative data and methods, and ends with a discussion of theories on the development of science. Part II offers philosophical reflections on four of the most important con cepts in science: causes, explanations, laws and models. Part III presents discussions on philosophy of mind, the relation between mind and body, value-free and value-related science, and reflections on actual trends in science.

The Understanding of Nature

Marjorie Grene
The Understanding of Nature Book PDF

Author : Marjorie Grene
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 379 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Science
ISBN : 9789401022248

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The Understanding of Nature by Marjorie Grene Pdf

No student or colleague of Marjorie Grene will miss her incisive presence in these papers on the study and nature of living nature, and we believe the new reader will quickly join the stimulating discussion and critique which Professor Grene steadily provokes. For years she has worked with equally sure knowledge in the classical domain of philosophy and in modern epistemological inquiry, equally philosopher of science and metaphysician. Moreover, she has the deeply sensible notion that she should be a critically intelligent learner as much as an imaginatively original thinker, and as a result she has brought insightful expository readings of other philosophers and scientists to her own work. We were most fortunate that Marjorie Grene was willing to spend a full semester of a recent leave here in Boston, and we have on other occasions sought her participation in our colloquia and elsewhere. Now we have the pleasure of including among the Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science this generous selection from Grene's philosophical inquiries into the understanding of the natural world, and of the men and women in it. Boston University Center for the R. S. COHEN Philosophy and History of Science M. W. W ARTOFSKY April 1974 PREFACE This collection spans - spottily - years from 1946 ('On Some Distinctions between Men and Brutes') to 1974 ('On the Nature of Natural Necessity').

A Realist Philosophy of Social Science

Peter T. Manicas
A Realist Philosophy of Social Science Book PDF

Author : Peter T. Manicas
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 7 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2006-06-15
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781139457064

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A Realist Philosophy of Social Science by Peter T. Manicas Pdf

This introduction to the philosophy of social science provides an original conception of the task and nature of social inquiry. Peter Manicas discusses the role of causality seen in the physical sciences and offers a reassessment of the problem of explanation from a realist perspective. He argues that the fundamental goal of theory in both the natural and social sciences is not, contrary to widespread opinion, prediction and control, or the explanation of events (including behaviour). Instead, theory aims to provide an understanding of the processes which, together, produce the contingent outcomes of experience. Offering a host of concrete illustrations and examples of critical ideas and issues, this accessible book will be of interest to students of the philosophy of social science, and social scientists from a range of disciplines.