Idealization X: The Richness of Idealization

Idealization X: The Richness of Idealization
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 541
Release: 2022-05-20
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9004457690

Contents: Preface. - Introduction. - Science as a caricature of reality. - Three methodological revolutions. - The method of idealization. - Explanations and applications. - Truth and idealization. - A generalization of idealization. - References.

Idealization and the Aims of Science

Idealization and the Aims of Science
Author: Angela Potochnik
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2020-09-23
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 022675944X

Science is the study of our world, as it is in its messy reality. Nonetheless, science requires idealization to function—if we are to attempt to understand the world, we have to find ways to reduce its complexity. Idealization and the Aims of Science shows just how crucial idealization is to science and why it matters. Beginning with the acknowledgment of our status as limited human agents trying to make sense of an exceedingly complex world, Angela Potochnik moves on to explain how science aims to depict and make use of causal patterns—a project that makes essential use of idealization. She offers case studies from a number of branches of science to demonstrate the ubiquity of idealization, shows how causal patterns are used to develop scientific explanations, and describes how the necessarily imperfect connection between science and truth leads to researchers’ values influencing their findings. The resulting book is a tour de force, a synthesis of the study of idealization that also offers countless new insights and avenues for future exploration.

As If

As If
Author: Kwame Anthony Appiah
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 237
Release: 2017-08-14
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0674982193

“Appiah is a writer and thinker of remarkable range... [He] has packed into this short book an impressive amount of original reflection... A rich and illuminating book.” —Thomas Nagel, New York Review of Books Idealization is a fundamental feature of human thought. We build simplified models to make sense of the world, and life is a constant adjustment between the models we make and the realities we encounter. Our beliefs, desires, and sense of justice are bound up with these ideals, and we proceed “as if” our representations were true, while knowing they are not. In this elegant and original meditation, Kwame Anthony Appiah suggests that this instinct to idealize is not dangerous or distracting so much as it is necessary. As If explores how strategic untruth plays a critical role in far-flung areas of inquiry: decision theory, psychology, natural science, and political philosophy. A polymath who writes with mainstream clarity, Appiah defends the centrality of the imagination not just in the arts but in science, morality, and everyday life. “Appiah is the rare public intellectual who is also a first-rate analytic philosopher, and the characteristic virtues associated with each of these identities are very much in evidence throughout the book.” —Thomas Kelly, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

Idealization V

Idealization V
Author: Izabella Nowakowa
Publisher: Rodopi
Total Pages: 144
Release: 1994
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9789051836523

Idealization IV

Idealization IV
Author: Craig Dilworth
Publisher: Rodopi
Total Pages: 424
Release: 1992
Genre: Ideals (Philosophy)
ISBN: 9789051832723

The Structure of Idealization

The Structure of Idealization
Author: Lesz Nowak
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 364
Release: 2013-03-09
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9401576513

Much is said in Marxist literature about Marxist methodology which is supposed to be entirely original - differing a great deal from all other trends in the modern philosophy of science. On the other hand, however, it is unfallacious to state that there are no people outside Marxism who would like to deny this statement. This has to put those who really believe that Marxism has something important to say in philosophy of science on guard: if someone says something important others usually are inclined to protest. But who is inclined to protest when it is stated that Marx em ployed both induction and deduction, a historical method and a logical one as well, synthesis, but also analysis, etc? Who is inclined to protest when it is not known what within this framework 'induction', 'deduction' 'history' or 'logic' mean? Who is inclined to protest when 'Marxist meth odology' is presented not with the aid of precise definitions and clear hypotheses but with the aid of a jungle of quotations? I think that the main malfeasance of the current 'Marxist methodology', is that of ecclecticism. The methodology of Marx is presented as a col lection of trivial and/or obscure ideas but not as a system of statements subordinated to any clear, definite viewpoint presenting a new grasp ofthe nature of scientific cognition. Search for reconstruction of Marxian meth odology as a system of the kind is the main aim of this book.