Overview

The philosophy of science has lost its self-confidence, witness the lack of advanced textbooks in contrast to the abundance of elementary textbooks. Structures in Science is an advanced textbook that explicates, updates, accommodates, and integrates the best insights of logical-empiricism and its main critics. This 'neo-classical approach' aims at providing heuristic patterns for research. The book introduces four ideal types of research programs (descriptive, explanatory, design, and explicative) and reanimates the distinction between observational laws and proper theories. It explicates various patterns of explanation by subsumption and specification as well as structures in reductive and other types of interlevel research. Its analysis of theory evaluation leads to new characterizations of confirmation, empirical progress, and pseudoscience. Partial analogies between progress in nomological research (i.e. observational, referential, and theoretical truth approximation, presented in detail in From Instrumentalism to Constructive Realism, 2000) and progress in explicative and design research emerge. Finally, special chapters are devoted to design research programs, computational philosophy of science, the structuralist approach to theories, and research ethics.

Full Product Details

Author:   Theo A.F. Kuipers
Publisher:   Springer
Imprint:   Springer
Edition:   Softcover reprint of hardcover 1st ed. 2001
Volume:   301
Dimensions:   Width: 16.00cm , Height: 2.20cm , Length: 24.00cm
Weight:   0.658kg
ISBN:  

9789048157495

ISBN 10:   9048157498
Pages:   414
Publication Date:   07 December 2010
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
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Table of Contents

I Units of Scientific Knowledge and Knowledge Acquisition; Introduction.- 1 Research Programs and Research Strategies.- 2 Observational Laws and Proper Theories.- II Patterns of Explanation and Description; Introduction.- 3 Explanation and Reduction of Laws.- 4 Explanation and Description by Specification.- III Structures in Interlevel and Interfield Research; Introduction.- 5 Reduction and Correlation of Concepts.- 6 Levels, Styles, and Mind-Body Research.- IV Confirmation and Empirical Progress; Introduction.- 7 Testing and Further Separate Evaluation of Theories.- 8 Empirical Progress and Pseudoscience.- V Truth, Product, and Concept Approximation; Introduction.- 9 Progress in Nomological, Explicative and Design.- 10 Design Research Programs.- VI Capita Selecta; Introduction.- 11 Computational Philosophy of Science.- 12 The Structuralist Approach to Theories.- 13 ‘Default-Norms’ in Research Ethics.- Suggestions for Further Reading.- Exercises.- Notes.- References.- Index of Names.- Index of Subjects.

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Author Information

Professor Theo Kuipers is the author of From Instrumentalism to Constructive Realism (Synthese Library 287, 2000). He is the leader of the Groningen Research Group `Cognitive Structures in Knowledge and Knowledge Development', which gained the highest possible scores in two successive assessments of Dutch philosophical research by international committees.

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