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Author:   Henk de Regt (Professor of Philosophy of Natural Sciences, Professor of Philosophy of Natural Sciences, Radboud University Nijmegen)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint:   Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 23.10cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 15.50cm
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9780197510261

ISBN 10:   0197510264
Pages:   320
Publication Date:   20 March 2020
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
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Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgement Chapter 1. Introduction: The desire to understand Chapter 2. Understanding and the aims of science 2.1. The neglect of understanding 2.2. Understanding as an epistemic skill 2.3. Intelligibility, values, and objectivity 2.4. Understanding: a means and an end Chapter 3. Explanatory understanding: A plurality of models 3.1. From covering law explanation to unificatory understanding 3.2. Causal conceptions of explanatory understanding 3.3. Is causal and unificatory understanding complementary? 3.4. Unifying the plurality of modes of explanation Chapter 4. A contextual theory of scientific understanding 4.1. Understanding phenomena with intelligible theories 4.2. Criteria for intelligibility 4.3. Conceptual tools for understanding 4.4. The context-dependence of understanding 4.4.1. Contextuality and historical dynamics 4.4.2. Contextuality and the intuitions of philosophers 4.4.3. Contextuality and pragmatics 4.5. Reduction, realism and understanding 4.5.1. Understanding and realism 4.5.2. Understanding and reduction 4.6. Contextualism: risky relativism? Chapter 5. Metaphysics and intelligibility: Understanding gravitation 5.1. The (un)intelligibility of Newton's theory of universal gravitation 5.2. The seventeenth-century debate on gravitation 5.2.1. Isaac Newton: reluctant revolutionary 5.2.2. Christiaan Huygens: the conscience of corpuscularism 5.3. Actio in distans and intelligibility after Newton 5.4. Metaphysics as a resource for scientific understanding Chapter 6. Models and mechanisms: Physical understanding in the nineteenth century 6.1. Mechanical modeling in nineteenth-century physics 6.1.1. William Thomson: master modeler 6.1.2. James Clerk Maxwell: advocate of analogies 6.1.3. Ludwig Boltzmann: promoter of pictures 6.2. Molecular models for understanding gas phenomena 6.3. Boltzmann' Bildtheorie: a pragmatic view of understanding 6.4. The uses and limitations of mechanical models Chapter 7. Visualizability and intelligibility: Insight into the quantum world 7.1. Visualizability and intelligibility in classical physics 7.2. Quantum theory and the waning of Anschaulichkeit 7.3. The new quantum mechanics: a struggle for intelligibility 7.4. Electron spin: the power of visualization 7.5. Visualization in post-war quantum physics 7.6. Visualization as a tool for understanding Chapter 8. Conclusion: the many faces of understanding Bibliography Index

Reviews

When it comes to getting clear on scientific understanding there is no better source to consult than Henk W. de Regt's Understanding Scientific Understanding. It is no exaggeration to say that this book is by far the best philosophical treatment of the concept of scientific understanding yet produced. * Kevin McCain, Science & Education * A unique account of scientific understanding, with an eye on how understanding is achieved. This account * which draws from two decades of research * This book * which creatively synthesizes two decades of his work into an elegant and provocative account of scientific understanding * This is a superb book on the timely topic of understanding by one of its main commentators and leading scholars over the years. It constitutes a thorough, intricate, detailed and well-argued development of the original and very fertile position of the author on the topic. * Mauricio Suarez, Complutense University Madrid * A remarkable book... a magnificent example of how history and philosophy of science can be productively integrated. * Lakatos Award Committee *

Author Information

Henk W. de Regt is Professor of Philosophy of Natural Sciences at the Instititute for Science in Society, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

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