Imre Lakatos and Theories of Scientific Change

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XI

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2. Part I

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes: A Retrospect

      • John Watkins

      Pages 3-13

   3. Deductive Heuristics

      • Alan Musgrave

      Pages 15-32

   4. Development of Science as a Change of Types

      • Herbert Hörz

      Pages 33-46

   5. Methodology and Ontology

      • J. J. C. Smart

      Pages 47-57

   6. Imre Lakatos in China

      • Fan Dainian

      Pages 59-67

   7. On the Characterization of Cognitive Progress

      • Risto Hilpinen

      Pages 69-80

3. Part II

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 81-81

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   2. Continuity and Discontinuity in the Definition of a Disciplinary Field: The Case of XXth Century Physics

      • Marcello Cini

      Pages 83-94

   3. Determinism, Probability and Randomness in Classical Statistical Physics

      • Peter Clark

      Pages 95-110

   4. The Emergence of a Research Programme in Classical Thermodynamics

      • C. Ulises Moulines

      Pages 111-121

   5. The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes and Some Developments in High Energy Physics

      • Kostas Gavroglu

      Pages 123-133

   6. Many-Particle Physics: Calculational Complications that Become a Blessing for Methodology

      • Yorgos Goudaroulis

      Pages 135-145

   7. The Relative Autonomy of Theoretical Science and the Role of Crucial Experiments in the Development of Superconductivity Theory

      • T. M. Christides, M. Mikou

      Pages 147-153

4. Part III

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 155-155

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   2. Lakatos on the Evaluation of Scientific Theories

      • Nikolaos Avgelis

      Pages 157-167

   3. Methodological Sophisticationism: A Degenerating Project

      • Marcello Pera

      Pages 169-187

   4. Through the Looking Glass: Philosophy, Research Programmes and the Scientific Community

      • Pantelis D. Nicolacopoulos

      Pages 189-202

   5. A Critical Consideration of the Lakatosian Concepts: “Mature” and “Immature” Science

      • Emilio Metaxopoulos

      Pages 203-214

How happy it is to recall Imre Lakatos. Now, fifteen years after his death, his intelligence, wit, generosity are vivid. In the Preface to the book of Essays in Memory of Imre Lakatos (Boston Studies, 39, 1976), the editors wrote: ... Lakatos was a man in search of rationality in all of its forms. He thought he had found it in the historical development of scientific knowledge, yet he also saw rationality endangered everywhere. To honor Lakatos is to honor his sharp and aggressive criticism as well as his humane warmth and his quick wit. He was a person to love and to struggle with. The book before us carries old and new friends of that Lakatosian spirit further into the issues which he wanted to investigate. That the new friends include a dozen scientific, historical and philosophical scholars from Greece would have pleased Lakatos very much, and with an essay from China, he would have smiled all the more. But the key lies in the quality of these papers, and in the imaginative organization of the conference at Thessaloniki in summer 1986 which worked so well.

• Karl R. Popper
• falsification
• heuristics
• knowledge
• philosophy of science
• probability
• reduction
• scientific discovery

• National Technical University of Athens, Greece

  Kostas Gavroglu, Pantelis Nicolacopoulos

• Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

  Yorgos Goudaroulis

Policies and ethics