Synopses & Reviews
The more than 40 readings in this anthology cover the most important developments of the past six decades, charting the rise and decline of logical positivism and the gradual emergence of a new consensus concerning the major issues and theoretical options in the field. The editors have included articles on all of the major special sciences and emphasize the relation between the more theoretical and applied questions.
Part One deals with basic theoretical issues: confirmation, semantics, and the interpretation of theories; causation and explanation; and reductionism and the unity of science. In Part Two, these relatively abstract themes are illustrated and examined further in light of issues in the various special sciences such as physics, biology, psychology, and social science.
Review
"Sober is a philosopher who studies biology, and be brings a rare skill to bear upon the philosophical arguments with which biologists (and others) have tried to justify parsimony." Mark Ridley, Nature The MIT Press
Review
" Reconstructing the Past is full of valuable clarifications, methodological insights, and rigorous argumentation. It is an excellent contribution to philosophy of biology and philosophy of science generally." Philip Kitcher , University of California, San Diego The MIT Press
Synopsis
Readings that chart the rise and decline of logical positivism and the emergence of a new consensus, emphasizing the relation between theoretical and applied questions.
The more than forty readings in this anthology cover the most important developments if the past six decades, charting the rise and decline of logical positivism and the gradual emergence of a new consensus concerning the major issues and theoretical options in the field. The editors have included articles on all the major special sciences and emphasize the relation between the more theoretical and applied questions.
Part One deals with basic theoretical issues: confirmation, semantics, and the interpretation of theories; causation and explanation; and reductionism and the unity of science. In Part Two, these relatively abstract themes are illustrated and examined further in light of issues in the various special sciences including physics, biology, psychology, and social science.
Synopsis
The more than 40 readings in this anthology cover the most important developments of the past six decades, charting the rise and decline of logical positivism and the gradual emergence of a new consensus concerning the major issues and theoretical options in the field.
Synopsis
Using formal logic, Reconstructing the Past seeks to clarify and resolve the methodological issues that arise when biologists try to answer such questions as whether human beings are more closely related to chimps than they are to gorillas. It explores the case for considering the philosophical idea of simplicity/parsimony as a useful principle for evaluating taxonomic theories of evolutionary relationships. Bringing together philosophy, biology, and statistics, Sober builds a general framework for understanding the circumstances in which parsimony makes sense as a tool of phylogenetic inference.Elliott Sober is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the author of The Nature of Selection.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [783]-787) and indexes.