Philosophy of Language and the Challenge to Scientific Realism

Philosophy of Language and the Challenge to Scientific Realism
Author: Christopher Norris
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2004-06-02
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1134336608

In this book Christopher Norris develops the case for scientific realism by tackling various adversary arguments from a range of anti-realist positions. Through a close critical reading he shows how they fail to make adequate sense on any rational, consistent, and scientifically-informed survey of the evidence. Along the way he incorporates a number of detailed case-studies from the history and philosophy of science. Norris devotes much of his discussion to some of the most prominent and widely influential source-texts of anti-realism. Also included are the sophisticated versions of verificationism developed - albeit in very different ways - by thinkers such as Michael Dummett and Bas van Fraassen. Central to Norris's argument is a prolonged engagement with the once highly influential but nowadays neglected work of Norwood Russell Hanson. This book will be welcomed especially by readers who possess some knowledge of the background debate and who wish to deepen and extend their understanding of these issues beyond an introductory level.

Scientific Realism

Scientific Realism
Author: Stathis Psillos
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2005-08-02
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1134619820

Scientific realism is the optimistic view that modern science is on the right track. This book argues that the history of science does not undermine this notion, suggesting it as the best philosophical account of science.

Contemporary Scientific Realism

Contemporary Scientific Realism
Author: Timothy D. Lyons
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2021-06-08
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0197554636

Scientific realists claim we can justifiably believe that science is getting at the truth. However, they have faced historical challenges: various episodes across history appear to demonstrate that even strongly supported scientific theories can be overturned and left behind. In response, realists have developed new positions and arguments. As a result of specific challenges from the history of science, and realist responses, we find ourselves with an ever-increasing dataset bearing on the (possible) relationship between science and truth. The present volume introduces new historical cases impacting the debate and advances the discussion of cases that have only very recently been introduced. At the same time, shifts in philosophical positions affect the very kind of case study that is relevant. Thus, the historical work must proceed hand in hand with philosophical analysis of the different positions and arguments in play. It is with this in mind that the volume is divided into two sections, entitled "Historical Cases for the Debate" and "Contemporary Scientific Realism." All sides agree that historical cases are informative with regard to how, or whether, science connects with truth. Defying proclamations as early as the 1980s announcing the death knell of the scientific realism debate, here is that rare thing: a philosophical debate making steady and definite progress. Moreover, the progress it is making concerns one of humanity's most profound and important questions: the relationship between science and truth, or, put more boldly, the epistemic relation between humankind and the reality in which we find ourselves.

Philosophy of Science

Philosophy of Science
Author: Samir Okasha
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 161
Release: 2016
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0198745583

What is science? -- Scientific inference -- Explanation in science -- Realism and anti-realism -- Scientific change and scientific revolutions -- Philosophical problems in physics, biology, and psychology -- Science and its critics.

Varieties of Scientific Realism

Varieties of Scientific Realism
Author: Evandro Agazzi
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 405
Release: 2017-03-08
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319516086

This book offers a comprehensive update on the scientific realism debate, enabling readers to gain a novel appreciation of the role of objectivity and truth in science and to understand fully the various ways in which antirealist conceptions have been subjected to challenge over recent decades. Authoritative representatives of different philosophical traditions explain their perspectives on the meaning and validity of scientific realism and describe the strategies being adopted to counter persisting antirealist positions. The coverage extends beyond the usual discussion of realism within the context of the natural sciences, and especially physics, to encompass also its applicability in mathematics, logic, and the human sciences. The book will appeal to all with an interest in the recent realist epistemologies of science, the nature of current philosophical debate, and the ongoing rehabilitation of truth as the legitimate goal of scientific research.

Resisting Scientific Realism

Resisting Scientific Realism
Author: K. Brad Wray
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 237
Release: 2018-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108415210

Provides a spirited defence of anti-realism in philosophy of science. Shows the historical evidence and logical challenges facing scientific realism.

Hermeneutic Realism

Hermeneutic Realism
Author: Dimitri Ginev
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2016-08-24
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3319392891

This study recapitulates basic developments in the tradition of hermeneutic and phenomenological studies of science. It focuses on the ways in which scientific research is committed to the universe of interpretative phenomena. It treats scientific research by addressing its characteristic hermeneutic situations, and uses the following basic argument in this treatment: By demonstrating that science’s epistemological identity is not to be spelled out in terms of objectivism, mathematical essentialism, representationalism, and foundationalism, one undermines scientism without succumbing scientific research to “procedures of normative-democratic control” that threaten science’s cognitive autonomy. The study shows that in contrast to social constructivism, hermeneutic phenomenology of scientific research makes the case that overcoming scientism does not imply restrictive policies regarding the constitution of scientific objects.

On Truth and Meaning

On Truth and Meaning
Author: Christopher Norris
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2006-08-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780826491282

Examining key issues in the philosophy of logic, mind and language, this book proposes grounds for a different era of cooperation and mutual interrogative exchange between the two schools of thought. It explores both traditions alongside one another in order to point up certain contrasts or communities of interest.

Scientific Realism and the Rationality of Science

Scientific Realism and the Rationality of Science
Author: Professor Howard Sankey
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2012-10-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1409485811

Scientific realism is the position that the aim of science is to advance on truth and increase knowledge about observable and unobservable aspects of the mind-independent world which we inhabit. This book articulates and defends that position. In presenting a clear formulation and addressing the major arguments for scientific realism Sankey appeals to philosophers beyond the community of, typically Anglo-American, analytic philosophers of science to appreciate and understand the doctrine. The book emphasizes the epistemological aspects of scientific realism and contains an original solution to the problem of induction that rests on an appeal to the principle of uniformity of nature.

Badiou's 'Being and Event'

Badiou's 'Being and Event'
Author: Christopher Norris
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 658
Release: 2009-05-24
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1441123725

Alain Badiou's Being and Event is the most original and significant work of French philosophy to have appeared in recent decades. It is the magnum opus of a thinker who is widely considered to have re-shaped the character and set new terms for the future development of philosophy in France and elsewhere. This book has been written very much with a view to clarifying Badiou's complex and demanding work for non-specialist readers. It offers guidance on philosophical and intellectual context, key themes, reading the text, reception and influence; and further reading.