Observation and Theory in Science

by Ernest Sylvain Nagel

Overview

Originally published in 1971. The three contributions collected in this volume deal with different aspects of a single theme—the logical status of scientific theories in their relation to observation. These lectures, authored by different thinkers, treat this theme in connection with some controversies in the philosophy of science. A nonspecialist who reads these lectures should realize that the theme itself is a perennial one with an ancient lineage. It has concerned philosophers from the earliest era of philosophy on down through the centuries. A central philosophical issue at stake in the lectures is the question of whether scientific theories are testable in terms of our observations such that we can know whether some theories are true and others false. Although differing in their emphases, all three contributors seek a more plausible and nonskeptical philosophical account of the status of scientific theories in relation to observation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421433264
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	12/01/2019
Series:	Thalheimer Lectures
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	144
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Ernest Nagel was a philosopher of science who helped spearhead the logical positivist movement. He became a professor at Columbia University in 1967 and remained there until his retirement in 1970. Sylvian Bromberger was a professor of philosophy at MIT who specialized in linguistics. Adolf Grünbaum, a German American philosopher of science, was the Andrew Mellon Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Theory and Observation
2. Science and the Forms of Ignorance
3. Can We Ascertain the Falsity of a Scientific Hypothesis?
An Appreciation
Index