New Directions in the Philosophy of Science

New Directions in the Philosophy of Science PDF Author: Maria Carla Galavotti
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 331904382X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 754

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Book Description
This volume sheds light on still unexplored issues and raises new questions in the main areas addressed by the philosophy of science. Bringing together selected papers from three main events, the book presents the most advanced scientific results in the field and suggests innovative lines for further investigation. It explores how discussions on several notions of the philosophy of science can help different scientific disciplines in learning from each other. Finally, it focuses on the relationship between Cambridge and Vienna in twentieth century philosophy of science. The areas examined in the book are: formal methods, the philosophy of the natural and life sciences, the cultural and social sciences, the physical sciences and the history of the philosophy of science.

New Directions in the Philosophy of Science

New Directions in the Philosophy of Science PDF Author: Maria Carla Galavotti
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 331904382X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 754

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume sheds light on still unexplored issues and raises new questions in the main areas addressed by the philosophy of science. Bringing together selected papers from three main events, the book presents the most advanced scientific results in the field and suggests innovative lines for further investigation. It explores how discussions on several notions of the philosophy of science can help different scientific disciplines in learning from each other. Finally, it focuses on the relationship between Cambridge and Vienna in twentieth century philosophy of science. The areas examined in the book are: formal methods, the philosophy of the natural and life sciences, the cultural and social sciences, the physical sciences and the history of the philosophy of science.

New Directions in the Philosophy of Social Science

New Directions in the Philosophy of Social Science PDF Author: Daniel Little
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1783487410
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Book Description
Philosophy matters for the social sciences. Our world faces ever more complex and hazardous problems and, social science ontology and methods need to be adequate to the changing nature of the social realm. Imagination and new ways of thinking are crucial to the social sciences. Based on Daniel Little's popular blog, this book provides an accessible introduction to the latest developments and debates in the philosophy of social science. Each chapter addresses a leading issue in the philosophy of the social sciences today. Little advocates for an 'actor-centred sociology', endorsing the idea of meso-level causation and proposing a solution to the problem of 'mechanisms or powers?'. The book draws significant conclusions from the facts of complexity and heterogeneity in the social world. The book develops a series of arguments that serve to provide a new framework for the philosophy of social science through deep engagement with social scientists and philosophers in the field. Topics covered include: - the heterogeneity and plasticity of the social world; - the complexity of social causation; - the nuts and bolts of causal mechanisms; - the applicability of the theory of causal powers to the social world; - the intellectual coherence of the perspective of scientific realism in application to social science.

Philosophy of Epidemiology

Philosophy of Epidemiology PDF Author: A. Broadbent
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137315601
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Epidemiology is one of the fastest growing and increasingly important sciences. This thorough analysis lays out the conceptual foundations of epidemiology, identifying traps and setting out the benefits of properly understanding this fascinating and important discipline, as well as providing the means to do so.

New Directions in the Philosophy of Mathematics

New Directions in the Philosophy of Mathematics PDF Author: Thomas Tymoczko
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691034980
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 458

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Book Description
The traditional debate among philosophers of mathematics is whether there is an external mathematical reality, something out there to be discovered, or whether mathematics is the product of the human mind. This provocative book, now available in a revised and expanded paperback edition, goes beyond foundationalist questions to offer what has been called a "postmodern" assessment of the philosophy of mathematics--one that addresses issues of theoretical importance in terms of mathematical experience. By bringing together essays of leading philosophers, mathematicians, logicians, and computer scientists, Thomas Tymoczko reveals an evolving effort to account for the nature of mathematics in relation to other human activities. These accounts include such topics as the history of mathematics as a field of study, predictions about how computers will influence the future organization of mathematics, and what processes a proof undergoes before it reaches publishable form. This expanded edition now contains essays by Penelope Maddy, Michael D. Resnik, and William P. Thurston that address the nature of mathematical proofs. The editor has provided a new afterword and a supplemental bibliography of recent work.

Counterfactuals and Scientific Realism

Counterfactuals and Scientific Realism PDF Author: Michael J. Shaffer
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137271582
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
The author attempts to show that scientific realism is compatible with the presence of idealization in the sciences. His main contention is that idealized theories can be treated as counterfactuals about how things are in worlds that are similar to but simpler than the actual world.

Philosophy of Stem Cell Biology

Philosophy of Stem Cell Biology PDF Author: M. Fagan
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 113729602X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
This examination of stem cell biology from a philosophy of science perspective clarifies the field's central concept, the stem cell, as well as its aims, methods, models, explanations and evidential challenges. Relations to systems biology and clinical medicine are also discussed.

New Directions in the Philosophy of Memory

New Directions in the Philosophy of Memory PDF Author: Kourken Michaelian
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351660012
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
Although philosophers have explored memory since antiquity, recent years have seen the birth of philosophy of memory as a distinct field. This book—the first of its kind—charts emerging directions of research in the field. The book’s seventeen newly commissioned chapters develop novel theories of remembering and forgetting, analyze the phenomenology and content of memory, debate issues in the ethics and epistemology of remembering, and explore the relationship between memory and affectivity. Written by leading researchers in the philosophy of memory, the chapters collectively present an exciting vision of the future of this dynamic area of research.

The Philosophy of Affordances

The Philosophy of Affordances PDF Author: Manuel Heras-Escribano
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319988301
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
This book is the first monograph fully devoted to analyzing the philosophical aspects of affordances. The concept of affordance, coined and developed in the field of ecological psychology, describes the possibilities for action available in the environment. This work offers a systematic approach to the key philosophical features of affordances, such as their ontological characterization, their relation to normative practices, and the idea of agency that follows from viewing affordances as key objects of perception, while also proposing an innovative philosophical characterization of affordances as dispositional properties. The Philosophy of Affordances analyzes the implications that a proper understanding of affordances has for the philosophy of mind and the cognitive sciences, and aims to intensify the dialogue between philosophy and ecological psychology in which each discipline benefits from the tools and insights of the other.

Combining Science and Metaphysics

Combining Science and Metaphysics PDF Author: M. Morganti
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137002697
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 367

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Book Description
Offering a new perspective on the debate concerning naturalism in philosophy, this book defends the autonomy of metaphysics while also making science centre stage. Three independent case studies provide a clear introduction to, and discussion of, key philosophical issues.

Philosophy of Science after Feminism

Philosophy of Science after Feminism PDF Author: Janet A. Kourany
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199750440
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Book Description
In this monograph Janet A. Kourany argues for a philosophy of science more socially engaged and socially responsible than the philosophy of science we have now. The central questions feminist scientists, philosophers, and historians have been raising about science during the last three decades form Kourany's point of departure and her response to these questions builds on their insights. This way of approaching science differs from mainstream philosophy of science in two crucial respects: it locates science within its wider societal context rather than treating science as if it existed in a social, political, and economic vacuum; and it points the way to a more comprehensive understanding of scientific rationality, one that integrates the ethical with the epistemic. Kourany develops her particular response, dubbed by her the ideal of socially responsible science, beyond the gender-related questions and contexts that form its origins and she defends it against a variety of challenges, epistemological, historical, sociological, economic, and political. She ends by displaying the important new directions philosophy of science can take and the impressive new roles philosophers of science can fill with the approach to science she offers.