Synopses & Reviews
The six essays in this volume discuss philosophical thought on scientific theory including: a call for a realist, rather than instrumentalist interpretation of science; a critique of one of the core ideas of positivism concerning the relation between observational and theoretical languages; using aerodynamics to discuss the representational aspect of scientific theories and their isomorphic qualities; the relationship between the reliability of common sense and the authenticity of the world view of science; removing long-held ambiguities on the theory of inductive logic; and the relationship between the actuality of conceptual revolutions in the history of science and traditional philosophical pictures of scientific theory-building.
Synopsis
Six philosophical essays discuss: a realist view of science; critiquing a core tenet of positivism; the representational aspect of scientific theories and their isomorphic qualities; deconstructing ambiguities in inductive logic; common sense vs. the world view of science; the actuality of conceptual revolutions in the history of science vs. traditional philosophy on scientific theory-building.
About the Author
Robert G. Colodny was professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh, and the editor of numerous books on philosophy of science including: The Nature and Function of Scientific Theories: Essays in Contemporary Science and Philosophy; Paradigms and Paradoxes: The Philosophical Challenges of the Quantum Domain; and Mind and Cosmos: Essays in Contemporary Science and Philosophy.