Theoretical Virtues In Science PDF Download

Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download Theoretical Virtues In Science PDF full book. Access full book title Theoretical Virtues In Science.

Theoretical Virtues in Science

Theoretical Virtues in Science
Author: Samuel Schindler
Publisher:
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2018-05-24
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1108422268

Download Theoretical Virtues in Science Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle

In-depth discussion of the value of scientific theories, bringing together and advancing current important debates in realism.


Theoretical Virtues in Science

Theoretical Virtues in Science
Author: Samuel Schindler
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020-03-26
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9781108435031

Download Theoretical Virtues in Science Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle

What are the features of a good scientific theory? Samuel Schindler's book revisits this classical question in the philosophy of science and develops new answers to it. Theoretical virtues matter not only for choosing theories 'to work with', but also for what we are justified in believing: only if the theories we possess are good ones (qua virtues) can we be confident that our theories' claims about nature are actually correct. Recent debates have focussed rather narrowly on a theory's capacity to predict new phenomena successfully, but Schindler argues that the justification for this focus is thin. He discusses several other theory properties such as testability, accuracy, and consistency, and highlights the importance of simplicity and coherence. Using detailed historical case studies and careful philosophical analysis, Schindler challenges the received view of theoretical virtues and advances arguments for the view that science uncovers reality through theory.


Current Controversies in Virtue Theory

Current Controversies in Virtue Theory
Author: Mark Alfano
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 174
Release: 2015-02-11
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1317541626

Download Current Controversies in Virtue Theory Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle

Virtue is among the most venerable concepts in philosophy, and has recently seen a major revival. However, new challenges to conceptions of virtue have also arisen. In Current Controversies in Virtue Theory, five pairs of cutting-edge philosophers square off over central topics in virtue theory: the nature of virtue, the connection between virtue and flourishing, the connection between moral and epistemic virtues, the way in which virtues are acquired, and the possibility of attaining virtue. Mark Alfano guides his readers through these essays (all published here for the first time), with a synthetic introduction, succinct abstracts of each debate, suggested further readings and study questions for each controversy, and a list of further controversies to be explored.


Reading the Book of Nature

Reading the Book of Nature
Author: Peter Kosso
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 216
Release: 1992-07-31
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780521426824

Download Reading the Book of Nature Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle

Why should we believe what science tells us about the world? Observation data, confirmation of theories, and the explanation of phenomena are all considered in an introductory survey of the philosophy of science.


The Territories of Science and Religion

The Territories of Science and Religion
Author: Peter Harrison
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 315
Release: 2015-04-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 022618448X

Download The Territories of Science and Religion Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle

Peter Harrison takes what we think we know about science and religion, dismantles it, and puts it back together again in a provocative new way. It is a mistake to assume, as most do, that the activities and achievements that are usually labeled religious and scientific have been more or less enduring features of the cultural landscape of the West. Harrison, by setting out the history of science and religion to see when and where they come into being and to trace their mutations over timereveals how distinctively Western and modern they are. Only in the past few hundred years have religious beliefs and practices been bounded by a common notion and set apart from the secular. And the idea of the natural sciences as discrete activities conducted in isolation from religious and moral concerns is even more recent, dating from the nineteenth century. Putting the so-called opposition between religion and science into historical perspective, as Harrison does here for the first time, has profound implications for our understanding of the present and future relations between them. "


Resisting Scientific Realism

Resisting Scientific Realism
Author: K. Brad Wray
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 237
Release: 2018-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108415210

Download Resisting Scientific Realism Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle

Provides a spirited defence of anti-realism in philosophy of science. Shows the historical evidence and logical challenges facing scientific realism.


Judgments of Beauty in Theory Evaluation

Judgments of Beauty in Theory Evaluation
Author: Devon Brickhouse-Bryson
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 145
Release: 2020-07-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1498597181

Download Judgments of Beauty in Theory Evaluation Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle

In Judgments of Beauty in Theory Evaluation, Devon Brickhouse-Bryson argues that judgments of beauty are a justified part of theory evaluation of all sorts, including both scientific theory evaluation and philosophical theory evaluation. He supports this argument with an account of beauty—inherited from Kant and Mothersill—on which the distinctive nature of judgments of beauty is that they are unprincipled, yet possible. Brickhouse-Bryson analyzes two important methods of theory evaluation—reflective equilibrium and simplicity—and argues that these methods require making judgments of beauty understood. He further argues that these methods of theory evaluation are not anomalies, but that they point to a deeper lesson about the nature of theorizing and the necessity of using judgments of beauty to evaluate systems, like theories. This book has implications for the debate in philosophy of science over judgments of beauty and also prompts a reckoning in philosophy itself over the use of judgments of beauty in philosophical theory evaluation.


Scientific Understanding

Scientific Understanding
Author: Henk W. de Regt
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Pre
Total Pages: 365
Release: 2014-08-09
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0822971240

Download Scientific Understanding Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle

To most scientists, and to those interested in the sciences, understanding is the ultimate aim of scientific endeavor. In spite of this, understanding, and how it is achieved, has received little attention in recent philosophy of science. Scientific Understanding seeks to reverse this trend by providing original and in-depth accounts of the concept of understanding and its essential role in the scientific process. To this end, the chapters in this volume explore and develop three key topics: understanding and explanation, understanding and models, and understanding in scientific practice. Earlier philosophers, such as Carl Hempel, dismissed understanding as subjective and pragmatic. They believed that the essence of science was to be found in scientific theories and explanations. In Scientific Understanding, the contributors maintain that we must also consider the relation between explanations and the scientists who construct and use them. They focus on understanding as the cognitive state that is a goal of explanation and on the understanding of theories and models as a means to this end. The chapters in this book highlight the multifaceted nature of the process of scientific research. The contributors examine current uses of theory, models, simulations, and experiments to evaluate the degree to which these elements contribute to understanding. Their analyses pay due attention to the roles of intelligibility, tacit knowledge, and feelings of understanding. Furthermore, they investigate how understanding is obtained within diverse scientific disciplines and examine how the acquisition of understanding depends on specific contexts, the objects of study, and the stated aims of research.


The Theory and Practice of Virtue Education

The Theory and Practice of Virtue Education
Author: Tom Harrison
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 371
Release: 2018-01-03
Genre: Education
ISBN: 135196691X

Download The Theory and Practice of Virtue Education Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle

The Theory and Practice of Virtue Education offers the reader a comprehensive and authoritative account of both the theoretical and practical complexities of cultivating virtue in education and beyond. The book moves beyond the usual philosophical literature that merely discusses virtue in the abstract, and offers scholarly, research-informed suggestions for practice. Drawn from a highly successful international conference organised by the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, the chapters in this volume offer a unique insight into the varieties of approaches that leading scholars have identified for putting the learning and nurturing of virtues into practice. Featured are chapters from internationally acclaimed scholars primarily in the fields of philosophy, psychology and education, which are categorised under three headings: philosophical and theoretical foundations for cultivating virtues; developing virtues in practice; and nurturing specific virtues. Beginning with chapters that examine differing theoretical complexities of virtue education, the book then moves on to explore different approaches to nurturing virtue in the classroom and beyond. This practical approach is further evidenced in the final section, where individual virtues are discussed. The Theory and Practice of Virtue Education highlights the theoretical complexity of putting virtue education into practice and, as a result, is of real use to researchers, academics and postgraduates in the fields of education, philosophy, psychology, sociology and theology. It should also be essential reading for educators in character and virtue.


General Philosophy of Science: Focal Issues

General Philosophy of Science: Focal Issues
Author:
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 713
Release: 2007-07-18
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0080548547

Download General Philosophy of Science: Focal Issues Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle

Scientists use concepts and principles that are partly specific for their subject matter, but they also share part of them with colleagues working in different fields. Compare the biological notion of a 'natural kind' with the general notion of 'confirmation' of a hypothesis by certain evidence. Or compare the physical principle of the 'conservation of energy' and the general principle of 'the unity of science'. Scientists agree that all such notions and principles aren't as crystal clear as one might wish. An important task of the philosophy of the special sciences, such as philosophy of physics, of biology and of economics, to mention only a few of the many flourishing examples, is the clarification of such subject specific concepts and principles. Similarly, an important task of 'general' philosophy of science is the clarification of concepts like 'confirmation' and principles like 'the unity of science'. It is evident that clarfication of concepts and principles only makes sense if one tries to do justice, as much as possible, to the actual use of these notions by scientists, without however following this use slavishly. That is, occasionally a philosopher may have good reasons for suggesting to scientists that they should deviate from a standard use. Frequently, this amounts to a plea for differentiation in order to stop debates at cross-purposes due to the conflation of different meanings. While the special volumes of the series of Handbooks of the Philosophy of Science address topics relative to a specific discipline, this general volume deals with focal issues of a general nature. After an editorial introduction about the dominant method of clarifying concepts and principles in philosophy of science, called explication, the first five chapters deal with the following subjects. Laws, theories, and research programs as units of empirical knowledge (Theo Kuipers), various past and contemporary perspectives on explanation (Stathis Psillos), the evaluation of theories in terms of their virtues (Ilkka Niiniluto), and the role of experiments in the natural sciences, notably physics and biology (Allan Franklin), and their role in the social sciences, notably economics (Wenceslao Gonzalez). In the subsequent three chapters there is even more attention to various positions and methods that philosophers of science and scientists may favor: ontological, epistemological, and methodological positions (James Ladyman), reduction, integration, and the unity of science as aims in the sciences and the humanities (William Bechtel and Andrew Hamilton), and logical, historical and computational approaches to the philosophy of science (Atocha Aliseda and Donald Gillies).The volume concludes with the much debated question of demarcating science from nonscience (Martin Mahner) and the rich European-American history of the philosophy of science in the 20th century (Friedrich Stadler). Comprehensive coverage of the philosophy of science written by leading philosophers in this field Clear style of writing for an interdisciplinary audience No specific pre-knowledge required