Overview
- Explains how science is used and abused and what science is
- Connects systematic philosophical points with cases from history of science
- Introduces the discussion of the contemporary debate of scientific realism
Part of the book series: Synthese Library (SYLI, volume 423)
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Table of contents (7 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Knowledge, Objectivity and Values
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Front Matter
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Philosophies of Science
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
- Introduction Philosophy of Science
- Introduction scientific realism
- Classical Conception of Knowledge
- What is proper use of science
- Karl Popper introduction
- Pierre Duhem introduction
- What is abuse of science
- Meaning truth philosophy
- Accuracy science philosophy
- precision science philosophy
- Values statistics philosophy
- Progress science philosophy
- objectivity science philosophy
- knowledge science introduction
- Fraud science introduction
- Duhem continuity introduction
- Popper Falsifiability introduction
About this book
This undergraduate textbook introduces some fundamental issues in philosophy of science for students of philosophy and science students. The book is divided into two parts. Part 1 deals with knowledge and values. Chap. 1 presents the classical conception of knowledge as initiated by the ancient Greeks and elaborated during the development of science, introducing the central concepts of truth, belief and justification. Aspects of the quest for objectivity are taken up in the following two chapters. Moral issues are broached in Chap. 4, which discusses some aspects of the use and abuse of science, taking up the responsibilities of scientists in properly conducting their business and decision-makers in their concerns with the import of science for society. Part 2 contrasts the view of scientific progress as the rejecting of old hypotheses and theories and replacing them with new ones, represented by Karl Popper, with the conception of progress as accumulating knowledge, saving as muchas possible from older theories, represented by Pierre Duhem. A concluding chapter defends the natural attitude of taking the theories of modern science to be literally true, i.e. realism, in the face of arguments drawn partly from the history of scientific progress in criticism of this stance.
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Getting to Know the World Scientifically
Book Subtitle: An Objective View
Authors: Paul Needham
Series Title: Synthese Library
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40216-7
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-40215-0Published: 21 March 2020
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-40218-1Published: 21 March 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-40216-7Published: 20 March 2020
Series ISSN: 0166-6991
Series E-ISSN: 2542-8292
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: X, 176
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations
Topics: Philosophy of Science, History of Science, History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics