Overview
- Accessible and comprehensive introduction to the nature of scientific knowledge and its relation to epistemology more generally
- Explores both the individual and social dimensions of the nature of knowledge in the sciences
- Clarifies what distinguishes scientific knowledge from other forms of knowledge
- Explores some of the major challenges to our scientific knowledge and how those challenges can be satisfactorily met
Part of the book series: Springer Undergraduate Texts in Philosophy (SUTP)
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Table of contents (17 chapters)
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General Features of Knowledge
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Knowledge of Scientific Claims
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Challenges to Scientific Knowledge
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Social Dimensions of Scientific Knowledge
Keywords
- Epistemology of science
- Knowledge in the sciences
- NOS
- Nature of Science
- Nature of scientific knowledge
- Research in the epistomology of science
- Science education
- Scientific community
- Scientific evidence
- Scientific explanation
- Scientific realism
- Social epistemology of science
- Traditional epistemology
- science learning
- scientific explanation
- scientific evidence
- understanding
About this book
This book offers a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the epistemology of science. It not only introduces readers to the general epistemological discussion of the nature of knowledge, but also provides key insights into the particular nuances of scientific knowledge. No prior knowledge of philosophy or science is assumed by The Nature of Scientific Knowledge. Nevertheless, the reader is taken on a journey through several core concepts of epistemology and philosophy of science that not only explores the characteristics of the scientific knowledge of individuals but also the way that the development of scientific knowledge is a particularly social endeavor. The topics covered in this book are of keen interest to students of epistemology and philosophy of science as well as science educators interested in the nature of scientific knowledge. In fact, as a result of its clear and engaging approach to understanding scientific knowledge The Nature of Scientific Knowledge is a book that anyone interested in scientific knowledge, knowledge in general, and any of a myriad of related concepts would be well advised to study closely.
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Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Kevin McCain is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His research focuses on issues in epistemology and philosophy of science—particularly where these areas intersect. In addition to numerous journal articles, he has published a research monograph on the nature of epistemic justification, Evidentialism and Epistemic Justification. He is also currently co-editing (with Ted Poston) a volume on inference to the best explanation and a volume on philosophical skepticism.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Nature of Scientific Knowledge
Book Subtitle: An Explanatory Approach
Authors: Kevin McCain
Series Title: Springer Undergraduate Texts in Philosophy
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33405-9
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-33403-5Published: 06 July 2016
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-81503-9Published: 30 May 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-33405-9Published: 25 June 2016
Series ISSN: 2569-8737
Series E-ISSN: 2569-8753
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIII, 277
Topics: Philosophy of Science, Epistemology, Science Education