Philosophy of Science: The Key Thinkers

by James Robert Brown (Editor)

Overview

All the great philosophers from Plato and Aristotle to the present day have been philosophers of science. However, this book concentrates on modern philosophy of science, starting in the nineteenth century and offering coverage of all the leading thinkers in the field including Whewell, Mill, Reichenbach, Carnap, Popper, Feyerabend, Putnam, van Fraassen, Bloor, Latour, Hacking, Cartwright and many more. Crucially the book demonstrates how the ideas and arguments of these key thinkers have contributed to our understanding of such central issues as experience and necessity, conventionalism, logical empiricism, induction and falsification, the sociology of science, and realism. Ideal for undergraduate students, the book lays the necessary foundations for a complete and thorough understanding of this fascinating subject.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781441128812
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	04/19/2012
Series:	Key Thinkers
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

James Robert Brown is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto, Canada. His previous publications include The Rational and the Social (Routledge, 1989), Smoke and Mirrors: How Science
Reflects Reality (Routledge, 1994), Philosophy of Mathematics (Routledge, Second Edition 2008) and The Laboratory of the Mind (Routledge, Second Edition 2009), Who Rules in Science: A Guide to the Wars (Harvard 2001), and Platonism, Naturalism, and Mathematical Knowledge (Routledge 2011).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Notes on Contributors
Preface
Introduction, James Robert Brown (University of Toronto, Canada)
1. Experience and Necessity: The Whewell and Mill Debate, Laura Snyder (St. John's University, USA)
2. Conventionalism: Poincaré, Duhem, Reichenbach, Torsten Wilholt (Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany)
3. The Vienna Circle: Moritz Schlick, Rudolf Carnap, Otto Neurath, Friedrich Stadler (University of Vienna, Austria)
4. Carl G. Hempel: Logical Empiricist, Martin Curd (Purdue University, USA)
5. Anti-Inductivism as Worldview: The Philosophy of Karl Popper, Steve Fuller (University of Warwick, UK)
6. Historical Approaches: Kuhn, Lakatos and Feyerabend, Martin Carrier (Bielefeld University, Germany)
7. The Contingency of the Causal Nexus: Ghazali and Modern Science, Arun Bala (National University of Singapore, Singapore)
8.Sociology of Science: Bloor, Collins, Latour, Martin Kusch (University of Vienna, Austria)
9. One Cannot Be Just a Little Bit Realist: Putnam and van Fraassen, Stathis Psillos (University of Athens, Greece)
10. Beyond Theories: Hacking and Cartwright, William Seager (University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada)
11. Feminist Critiques: Harding and Longino, Janet Kourany (University of Notre Dame, USA)
Afterword
Index

Editorial Reviews

A well-thought complement to traditional introductions to the philosophy of science. Introduced by leading scholars in their fields, the key debates in the discipline, from inductivism to realism, are not only clarified but enlightened so as to be of interest to students and scholars alike.” —Giancarlo Ianulardo, Lecturer in Economics, University of Exeter, UK

“In this classic introductory textbook, now at its second edition, Jim Brown brings together a stellar array of philosophers of science. Each chapter is organised around a central theme - from conventionalism to realism and feminist philosophy of science, among several others - and introduces some classic authors in the field. Study questions and Further Reading suggestions accompany each chapter. This book will continue to be an extremely valuable resource for students approaching the field for the first time and for anyone else wishing to have an introduction to philosophy of science.” —Michela Massimi, Professor of Philosophy of Science, University of Edinburgh, UK

From the Publisher