This comprehensive textbook provides a clear nontechnical introduction to the philosophy of science. Through asking whether science can provide us with objective knowledge of the world, the book provides a thorough and accessible guide to the key thinkers and debates that define the field.
George Couvalis surveys traditional themes around theory and observation, induction, probability, falsification and rationality as well as more recent challenges to objectivity including relativistic, feminist and sociological readings. This provides a helpful framework in which to locate the key intellectual contributions to these debates, ranging from those of Mill and Hume, through Popper and Kuhn to Laudan, Bloor and Garfinkel among others.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Theory and Observation
Induction and Probability
Popper and Mill
Fallibility, Falsification and Coherence
Revolutionary Change and Rationality
Kuhn and his Rivals
Relativism and the Value of Science
The Sociology of Knowledge and Feminism
Realism and Instrumentalism
