Cargando…
What Is This Thing Called Science.
Now well into its fourth decade, What is this thing called science? has become something of a classic the world over (it's available in nineteen languages). Each decade Alan Chalmers has drawn on his experience as a teacher and researcher to improve and update the text. The most significant fea...
| Clasificación: | Libro Electrónico |
|---|---|
| Autor principal: | |
| Formato: | Electrónico eBook |
| Idioma: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Chicago :
University of Queensland Press,
2013.
|
| Edición: | 4th ed. |
| Temas: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Texto completo |
Tabla de Contenidos:
- Cover; Author biography; Title page; Epigragh; Contents; Preface to the first edition; Preface to the second edition; Preface to the third edition; Preface to the fourth edition; Introduction; CHAPTER 1: Science as knowledge derived from the facts of experience; A widely held commonsense view of science; Seeing is believing; Visual experiences not determined solely by the object viewed; Observable facts expressed as statements; Why should facts precede theory?; The fallibility of observation statements; Further reading; CHAPTER 2: Observation as practical intervention.
- Observation: passive and private or active and public?Galileo and the moons of Jupiter; Observable facts objective but fallible; Further reading; CHAPTER 3: Experiment; Not just facts but relevant facts; The production and updating of experimental results; Transforming the experimental base of science: historical examples; Experiment as an adequate basis for science; Further reading; CHAPTER 4: Deriving theories from the facts: induction; Introduction; Baby logic; Can scientific laws be derived from the facts?; What constitutes a good inductive argument?; Further problems with inductivism.
- The appeal of inductivismFurther reading; CHAPTER 5: Introducing falsificationism; Introduction; A logical point in favour of falsificationism; Falsifiability as a criterion for theories; Degree of falsifiability, clarity and precision; Falsificationism and progress; Further reading; CHAPTER 6: Sophisticated falsificationism, novel predictions and the growth of science; Relative rather than absolute degrees of falsifiability; Increasing falsifiability and ad hoc modifications; Confirmation in the falsificationist account of science; Boldness, novelty and background knowledge.
- Comparison of the inductivist and falsificationist view of confirmationAdvantages of falsificationism over inductivism; Further reading; CHAPTER 7: The limitations of falsificationism; Problems stemming from the logical situation; Falsificationism inadequate on historical grounds; The Copernican Revolution; Inadequacies of the falsificationist demarcation criterion and Popper's response; Further reading; CHAPTER 8: Theories as structures I: Kuhn's paradigms; Theories as structures; Introducing Thomas Kuhn; Paradigms and normal science; Crisis and revolution.
- The function of normal science and revolutionsThe merits of Kuhn's account of science; Kuhn's ambivalence on progress through revolutions; Objective knowledge; Further reading; CHAPTER 9: Theories as structures II: research programs; Introducing Imre Lakatos; Lakatos's research programs; Methodology within a program and the comparison of programs; Novel predictions; Testing the methodology against history; Problems with Lakatos's methodology; Further reading; CHAPTER 10: Feyerabend's anarchistic theory of science; The story so far; Feyerabend's case against method.