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Rational Changes in Science

Essays on Scientific Reasoning

  • Book
  • © 1987

Overview

Editors:
  1. Joseph C. Pitt

    1. Department of Philosophy, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA

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  2. Marcello Pera

    1. Dipartimento di Filosofia, Università degli Studi di Pisa, Italy

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science (BSPS, volume 98)

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
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  2. Theoretical Considerations Concerning Rationality and Scientific Change

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
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    2. How Not to Talk About Conceptual Change in Science

      • Richard M. Burian
      Pages 3-33

    3. The Myth of the Framework

      • Karl Popper
      Pages 35-62

    4. A New View of Scientific Rationality

      • John Watkins
      Pages 63-82

    5. Science, Protoscience, and Pseudoscience

      • Raimo Tuomela
      Pages 83-101

    6. Methodology, Heuristics, and Rationality

      • Thomas Nickles
      Pages 103-132

  3. Rational Scientific Changes

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 133-133
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    2. Galileo and Rationality: The Case of the Tides

      • Joseph C. Pitt
      Pages 135-153

    3. The Quest for Scientific Rationality: Some Historical Considerations

      • William R. Shea
      Pages 155-176

    4. The Rationality of Discovery: Galvani’s Animal Electricity

      • Marcello Pera
      Pages 177-201

    5. The Rationality of Entertainment and Pursuit

      • Rachel Laudan
      Pages 203-220

  4. Back Matter

    Pages 221-227
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Keywords

About this book

THE PROBLEMS OF SCIENTIFIC RATIONALITY Fashion is a fickle mistress. Only yesterday scientific rationality enjoyed considerable attention, consideration, and even reverence among phi­ losophers; "but today's fashion leads us to despise it, and the matron, rejected and abandoned as Hecuba, complains; modo maxima rerum, tot generis natisque potens - nunc trahor exui, inops", to cite Kant for our purpose, who cited Ovid for his. Like every fashion, ours also has its paradoxical aspects, as John Watkins correctly reminds in an essay in this volume. Enthusiasm for science was high among philosophers when significant scientific results were mostly a promise, it declined when that promise became an undeniable reality. Nevertheless, as with the decline of any fashion, even the revolt against scientific rationality has some reasonable grounds. If the taste of the philosophical community has changed so much, it is not due to an incident or a whim. This volume is not about the history of and reasons for this change. Instead, it provides a view of the new emerging image of scientific rationality in both its philosophical and historical aspects. In particular, the aim of the contributions gathered here is to focus on the concept around which the discussions about rationality have mostly taken place: scientific change.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Department of Philosophy, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA

    Joseph C. Pitt

  • Dipartimento di Filosofia, Università degli Studi di Pisa, Italy

    Marcello Pera

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Rational Changes in Science

  • Book Subtitle: Essays on Scientific Reasoning

  • Editors: Joseph C. Pitt, Marcello Pera

  • Series Title: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3779-6

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: D. Reidel Publishing Company 1987

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-90-277-2417-5Due: 30 June 1987

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-94-010-8181-8Published: 12 October 2011

  • eBook ISBN: 978-94-009-3779-6Published: 06 December 2012

  • Series ISSN: 0068-0346

  • Series E-ISSN: 2214-7942

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: 248

  • Topics: Philosophy of Science

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