"The essays in this collection, many of them modern classics, illuminate some of the most central and exciting issues in the subject. The editors have provided each cluster of readings with a helpful introduction, study questions and suggestions for further reading, making this volume an excellent way into the philosophy of science." -- Peter Lipton, University of Cambridge
"The selections are appropriate both for the topics to be covered and for the intended audience. The entries are good, solid, important pieces that have directed the philosophy of science. The editors' introductions are clear and insightful. This makes a nice companion to Philosophy of Science: A Contemporary Introduction." -- Peter Kosso, Northern Arizona University
Philosophy of Science: Contemporary Readings is a comprehensive anthology that draws together leading philosophers writing on the major themes in the philosophy of science. Yuri Balashov and Alex Rosenberg have carefully chosen articles in chapters under the headings:
Contents:
Part I: Science and Philosophy
1. "The Future of Philosophy," Moritz Schlick
2. "Biology and its Philosophy,"Alex Rosenberg
Part II: Explanation, Causation and Laws
3. "Two Models of Scientific Explanation," by
Carl Hempel
4. "The Pragmatics of Explanation," by Bas van
Fraassen
5. "Explanatory Unification and the Causal Structure
of the World," by Philip Kitcher
6. "Scientific Explanation: Causation and Unification,"
by Wesley C. Salmon
7. "The Logic of Conditionals," by J.L. Mackie
8. "Laws of Nature," by John Earman
Part III: Scientific Theories and Conceptual Change
9. "Experimental Laws and Theories," by Ernest
Nagel
10. "Explanation, Reduction and Empiricism,"
by Paul Feyerabend
11. "Theories, Theorists and Theoretical Change,"
by Philip Kitcher
Part IV: Scientific Realism
12. "The Cognitive Status of Theories," by Ernest
Nagel
13. "A Confutation of Convergent Realism," by
Larry Laudan
14. "Scientific Realism versus Constructive Empiricism:
A Dialogue," by Gary Gutting
15. "A Case for Scientific Realism," by Ernan
McMullin
Part V: Testing and Confirmation of Theories
16. "On Induction," by Bertrand Russell
17. "Science: Conjectures and Refutations," by
Karl Popper
18. "Darwinism as a Metaphysical Research Programme,"
by Karl Popper
19. "Difficulties of the Theory," by Charles
Darwin
20. "The Grue Paradox," by Peter Achinstein
21. "Seeing and Seeing As," by N. Russell Hanson
22. "Two Dogmas of Empiricism," by W.V. Quine
23. "Empirical Equivalence and Undeterminationm"
by Larry Laudan and Jarrett Leplin
24. "Bayes's Theorem and the History of Science,"
by Wesley Salmon
Part VI: Science in Context: The Challenge of History and Sociology
25. "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,"
by Dudley Shapere
26. "Objectivity, Value Judgement and Theory
Choice," by Thomas Kuhn
27. "The Strong Programme in the Sociology of
Knowledge," by David Bloor
28. "Feminist Epistemology: An Interpretation
and a Defense," by Elizabeth Anderson
29. "The Social Dimensions of Science," by Ernan
McMullin
This book is highly accessible and user-friendly and provides a broad-ranging explorations of the subject drawing from classic and contemporary articles. Ideal for any philosophy student, this book will prove essential reading for any philosophy of science course. The readings are designed to complement Alex Rosenberg's textbook, Philosophy of Science: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge, 2000), though the anthology can also be used as a stand-alone volume.
Series Information: Routledge Contemporary Readings in Philosophy
Author Biography:
Yuri Balashov teaches Philosophy at the University of Georgia, USA. He has published extensively in the leading Philosophy and Philosophy of Science journals.
Alex Rosenberg teaches Philosophy at Duke University. His books include Philosophy of Science: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge, 2000) and The Philosophy of Social Science (1995). In 1993 he won the Lakatos Prize in the Philosophy of Science.
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