Overview

This book is a balanced and up-to-date introduction to the philosophy of science. It covers all the main topics in the area, as well as introducing the student to the moral and social reality of science. The author's style is free from jargon, and although he makes use of scientific examples, these should be intelligible to those without much scientific background. At the same time the questions he raises are not merely abstract, so the book will be of interest and concern to scientists as well as philosophers.The author discusses the growth of knowledge of science, the status of scientific theories and their relationship to observational data, the extent to which scientific theories rest on unprovable paradigms, and the nature of scientific explanations. In later chapters he considers probability, scientific reductionism, the relationship between science and technology, and the relationship between scientific and other values.

Full Product Details

Author:   Anthony O'Hear (Professor of Philosophy, Professor of Philosophy, University of Bradford)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Clarendon Press
Dimensions:   Width: 16.00cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 24.00cm
Weight:   0.289kg
ISBN:  

9780198248132

ISBN 10:   019824813
Pages:   250
Publication Date:   30 March 1989
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
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Table of Contents

Part 1 Science as an intellectual activity: growth of knowledge; objectivity and the external world; prediction and explanation. Part 2 Induction: Baconian induction; presuppositionless observation; the role of imagination in scientific theorizing; inductive proof. Part 3 Falsification: Popperian philosophy of science; a Bayesian approach. Part 4 Science and non-science: the demarcation criterion; are theories ever falsified?; Kuhnian relativism; the relationship between the history and philosophy of science. Part 5 Observation and theory: observational common ground between theories; observation and theory; empiricism; unobservability and underdetermination of theory by data. Part 6 Scientific realism: positivism; the inference to best explanation; scientific laws and the representation of reality; the absolute view of the world; partial pictures - Schrodinger's cat. Part 7 Probability: probabilistic explanations; interpretations of probability. Part 8 Scientific reductions: reductions in the physical sciences; criteria for reduction. Part 9 Science and culture: science as mythology; myths and science; science and technology; science and value.

Reviews

Succeeds in being a balanced, up-to-date critical survey of some main topics in philosophy of science....In a mixed class of students, which span the range of familiarity with philosophy and science, O'Hear's book is a good choice for the first text to be used, something which tells students what philosophy of science is all about. --Teaching Philosophy<br> This highly readable and intelligent book is the best text on the subject in print. --Alan G. Padgett, Azusa Pacific University<br> A good intermediate level introduction. --James McJ. Robertson, Cogswell College<br> A wonderful book. It deals with the most interesting issues in the philosophy of science and does so in a most interesting way. It is also accessible to undergraduates. --Wendell O'Brien, Moorhead State University<br> The book is very well written, nicely organized, and nontechnical. This reviewer knows of no better comprehensive introductory overview of the main problems in contemporary philosophy of science....Highly recommended for any library supporting academic work at any level in philosophy or in any of the natural sciences. --Choice<br>

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