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Books > Science & Mathematics > Science: general issues > Philosophy of science

Heavens on Earth - The Scientific Search for the Afterlife, Immortality, and Utopia (Paperback): Michael Shermer Heavens on Earth - The Scientific Search for the Afterlife, Immortality, and Utopia (Paperback)
Michael Shermer
R544 R453 Discovery Miles 4 530 Save R91 (17%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days
HyperReality - Paradigm for the Third Millenium (Hardcover): Nobuyoshi Terashima, John Tiffin HyperReality - Paradigm for the Third Millenium (Hardcover)
Nobuyoshi Terashima, John Tiffin
R2,797 R1,208 Discovery Miles 12 080 Save R1,589 (57%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days


'HyperReality is a technological capability like nanotechnology, human cloning and artificial intelligence. Like them, it does not as yet exist in the sense of being clearly demonstrable and publicly available. Like them, it is maturing in laboratories where the question "if" has been replaced by the question "when?" and like them, the implications of its appearance as a basic infrastructure technology are profound and merit careful consideration.' - Nobuyoshi Terashima
What comes after the Internet? Imagine a world where it is difficult to tell if the person standing next to you is real or a virtual reality, and whether they have human intelligence or artificial intelligence; a world where people can appear to be anything they want to be. HyperReality makes this possible.
HyperReality: Paradigm for the Third Millenium offers a window into the world of the future, an interface between the natural and artificial. Nobuyoshi Terashima led the team that developed the prototype for HyperReality at Japan's ATT laboratories. John Tiffin studied they way HyperReality would create a new communications paradigm. Together with a stellar list of contributors from around the globe who are engaged in researching different aspects of HyperReality, they offer the first account of this extraordinary technology and its implications.
This fascinating book explores the defining features of HyperReality: what it is, how it works and how it could become to the information society what mass media was to the industrial society. It describes ongoing research into areas such as the design of virtual worlds and virtual humans, and the role of intelligent agents. It looks at applications and ways in which HyperReality may impact on fields such as translation, medicine, education, entertainment and leisure. What are its implications for lifestyles and work, for women and the elderly? Will we grow to prefer the virtual worlds we create to the physical world we adapt to?
HyperReality at the beginning of the Third Millennium is like steam power at the beginning of the Nineteenth Century and radio at the start of the Twentieth Century, an idea that has been shown to work but has yet to be applied. This book is for anyone concerned about the future and the effects of technology on our lives.

Theology and Modern Physics (Hardcover): Peter E. Hodgson Theology and Modern Physics (Hardcover)
Peter E. Hodgson
R5,350 Discovery Miles 53 500 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

The new discoveries in physics during the twentieth century have stimulated intense debate about their relevance to age-old theological questions. Views range from those holding that modern physics provides a surer road to God than traditional religions, to those who say that physics and theology are incommensurable and so do not relate. At the very least, physics has stimulated renewed theological discussions. In this critical introduction to the science-theology debate, Peter E. Hodgson draws on his experience as a physicist to present the results of modern physics and the theological implications. Written for those with little or no scientific background, Hodgson describes connections between physics, philosophy and theology and then explains Newtonian physics and Victorian physics, the theories of relativity, astronomy and quantum mechanics, and distinguishes the actual results of modern physics from speculations. The connections with theology are explored throughout. The concluding section draws discussions together and makes an important new contribution to the debate.

Fundamental Causation - Physics, Metaphysics, and the Deep Structure of the World (Hardcover): Christopher Gregory Weaver Fundamental Causation - Physics, Metaphysics, and the Deep Structure of the World (Hardcover)
Christopher Gregory Weaver
R4,149 Discovery Miles 41 490 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Fundamental Causation addresses issues in the metaphysics of deterministic singular causation, the metaphysics of events, property instances, facts, preventions, and omissions, as well as the debate between causal reductionists and causal anti-reductionists. The book also pays special attention to causation and causal structure in physics. Weaver argues that causation is a multigrade obtaining relation that is transitive, irreflexive, and asymmetric. When causation is singular, deterministic and such that it relates purely contingent events, the relation is also universal, intrinsic, and well-founded. He shows that proper causal relata are events understood as states of substances at ontological indices. He then proves that causation cannot be reduced to some non-causal base, and that the best account of that relation should be unashamedly primitivist about the dependence relation that underwrites its very nature. The book demonstrates a distinctive realist and anti-reductionist account of causation by detailing precisely how the account outperforms reductionist and competing anti-reductionist accounts in that it handles all of the difficult cases while overcoming all of the general objections to anti-reductionism upon which other anti-reductionist accounts falter. This book offers an original and interesting view of causation and will appeal to scholars and advanced students in the areas of metaphysics, philosophy of science, and philosophy of physics.

Philosophy of Science: Contemporary Readings (Hardcover): Yuri Balashov, Alex Rosenberg Philosophy of Science: Contemporary Readings (Hardcover)
Yuri Balashov, Alex Rosenberg
R4,189 Discovery Miles 41 890 Ships in 12 - 17 working days


This comprehensive anthology draws together writings by leading philosophers on the philosophy of science. Each section is prefaced by an introductory essay from the editors, guiding students gently into the topic. Accessible and wide-ranging, the text draws on both contemporary and twentieth century sources.
The readings are designed to complement Alex Rosenberg's textbook, Philosophy of Science: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge 2000), but can also serve as a stand-alone volume in any philosophy of science course.
Includes readings from the following leading philosophers: Achinstein, Anderson, Bloor, Earman, Feyerabend, Gutting, Hanson, Hempel, Kitcher, Kuhn, Laudan, Leplin, Mackie, McMullin, Nagel, Popper, Quine, Rosenberg, Russell, Salmon, Schlick, Shapere, Van Fraassen.

Modelling Evolution - A New Dynamic Account (Hardcover): Eugene Earnshaw-Whyte Modelling Evolution - A New Dynamic Account (Hardcover)
Eugene Earnshaw-Whyte
R4,125 Discovery Miles 41 250 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Evolution by natural selection explains the tree of life and the complex adaptations found throughout nature. The power and versatility of evolutionary explanations have proved tempting to scientists outside of biology, but adapting evolutionary concepts to new domains has been challenging. Even within biology, there are many difficult questions and problem cases that face evolutionary theory. Modelling Evolution offers a new, general account of evolution by natural selection that identifies the essential features of evolutionary models that transcend any particular discipline. Evolution by natural selection in its broad sense is the systemic advantage of a type, in contrast to the narrow definition using heritable variation in fitness. This account is explained, contextualised and applied to a variety of questions in both biology and the social sciences. Offering an accessible and comprehensive account of evolution that is applicable both to biology and the broader social sciences, Modelling Evolution will appeal to students and researchers interested in fields such as biology, economics, sociology, history, and psychology.

Against the Idols of the Age (Paperback, New Ed): David Stove Against the Idols of the Age (Paperback, New Ed)
David Stove
R1,478 Discovery Miles 14 780 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Little known outside his native Australia, David Stove was one of the most illuminating and brilliant philo-sophical essayists of the postwar era. A fearless at-tacker of intellectual and cultural orthodoxies, Stove left powerful critiques of scientific irrationalism, Dar-winian theories of human behavior, and philosophi-cal idealism. He was also an occasional essayist of considerable charm and polemical snap. Stove's writ-ing is both rigorous and immensely readable. It is, in the words of Roger Kimball, "an invigorating blend of analytic lucidity, mordant humor, and an amount of common sense too great to be called 'common.'" Against the Idols of the Age brings together a repre-sentative selection of Stove's writing and is an ideal introduction to his work. The book opens with some of Stove's most impor-tant attacks on irrationalism in the philosophy of sci-ence. He exposes the roots of this fashionable attitude, tracing it through writers like Paul Feyerabend andThomas Kuhn to Karl Popper. Stove was a born controversialist, so it is not surpris-ing that when he turned his attention to contemporary affairs he said things that are politically incorrect. The topical essays that make up the second part of the book show Stove at his most withering and combative. Whether the subject is race, feminism, the Enlightenment, or the demand for "non-coercive philosophy," Stove is on the mark with a battery of impressive arguments expressed in sharp, uncompromis-ing prose. Against the Idols of the Age concludes with a generous sampling of his blistering attacks on Darwinism. David Stove's writings are an undiscovered treasure. Although readers may dis-agree with some of his opinions, they will find it difficult to dismiss his razor-sharp arguments. Against the Idols of the Age is the first book to make the full range of this important thinker available to the general reader.

Science in Culture (Paperback): Stephen R. Graubard Science in Culture (Paperback)
Stephen R. Graubard
R660 Discovery Miles 6 600 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Twenty-five years ago, Gerald Holton's Thematic Origins of Scientific Thought introduced a wide audience to his ideas. Holton argued that from ancient times to the modern period, an astonishing feature of innovative scientific work was its ability to hold, simultaneously, deep and opposite commitments of the most fundamental sort. Over the course of Holton's career, he embraced both the humanities and the sciences. Given this background, it is fitting that the explorations assembled in this volume reflect both individually and collectively Holton's dual roots.
In the opening essay, Holton sums up his long engagement with Einstein and his thematic commitment to unity. The next two essays address this concern. In historicized form, Lorraine Daston returns the question of the scientific imagination to the Enlightenment period when both sciences and art feared imagination. Daston argues that the split whereby imagination was valued in the arts and loathed in the sciences is a nineteenth-century divide. James Ackerman on Leonardo da Vinci meshes perfectly with Daston's account, showing a form of imaginative intervention where it is irrelevant to draw analogies between art and science. Historians of religion Wendy Doniger and Gregory Spinner pursue the imagination into the bedroom with literary-theological representations. Science, culture, and the imagination also intersect with biologist Edward Wilson and physicist Steven Weinberg. Both tackle the big question of the unity of knowledge and worldviews from a scientific perspective while art historian Ernst Gombrich does the same from the perspective of art history. To emphasize the nitty-gritty of scientific practice, chemists Bretislav Fredrich and Dudley Herschback provide a remarkable historical tour at the boundary of chemistry and physics. In the concluding essay, historian of education Patricia Albjerg Graham addresses pedagogy head-on.
In these various reflections on science, art, literature, philosophy, and education, this volume gives us a view in common: a deep and abiding respect for Gerald Holton's contribution to our understanding of science in culture.
Peter Galison is Mallinckrodt Professor of History of Science and of physics at Harvard University. Stephen R. Graubard is editor of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and its journal, Daedalus, and professor of history emeritus at Brown University. Everett Mendelsohn is director of the History of Science Program at Harvard University.

Is Water H2O? - Evidence, Realism and Pluralism (Paperback, 2012 ed.): Hasok Chang Is Water H2O? - Evidence, Realism and Pluralism (Paperback, 2012 ed.)
Hasok Chang
R7,884 Discovery Miles 78 840 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

This book exhibits deep philosophical quandaries and intricacies of the historical development of science lying behind a simple and fundamental item of common sense in modern science, namely the composition of water as H2O. Three main phases of development are critically re-examined, covering the historical period from the 1760s to the 1860s: the Chemical Revolution (through which water first became recognized as a compound, not an element), early electrochemistry (by which water's compound nature was confirmed), and early atomic chemistry (in which water started out as HO and became H2O). In each case, the author concludes that the empirical evidence available at the time was not decisive in settling the central debates and therefore the consensus that was reached was unjustified or at least premature. This leads to a significant re-examination of the realism question in the philosophy of science and a unique new advocacy for pluralism in science. Each chapter contains three layers, allowing readers to follow various parts of the book at their chosen level of depth and detail. The second major study in "complementary science," this book offers a rare combination of philosophy, history and science in a bid to improve scientific knowledge through history and philosophy of science.

On Science (Paperback): Brian Ridley On Science (Paperback)
Brian Ridley
R754 Discovery Miles 7 540 Ships in 12 - 17 working days


Can science explain everything? Brian Ridley, a physicist himself, explores this question and more in this compelling exploration of both the scope and limits of science. Tracing back to the roots of scientific thinking in a world of 'magical ideas', he argues that science shares more with magic than we are often led to believe.
The book also explores the often overlooked relationship between science and mathematics and the uneasy relationship between the two. This is neatly linked to a fascinating discussion of relativity and quantum theory, reminding us of the many perspectives on offer within science. On Science is essential reading for all those interested in the way we think about and picture science, where it is now, and where it is going.

On Science (Hardcover): Brian Ridley On Science (Hardcover)
Brian Ridley
R3,984 Discovery Miles 39 840 Ships in 12 - 17 working days


Can science explain everything? Brian Ridley, a physicist himself, explores this question and more in this compelling exploration of both the scope and limits of science. Tracing back to the roots of scientific thinking in a world of 'magical ideas', he argues that science shares more with magic than we are often led to believe.
The book also explores the often overlooked relationship between science and mathematics and the uneasy relationship between the two. This is neatly linked to a fascinating discussion of relativity and quantum theory, reminding us of the many perspectives on offer within science. On Science is essential reading for all those interested in the way we think about and picture science, where it is now, and where it is going.

Bargaining Theory (Paperback): Peter Vanderschraaf Bargaining Theory (Paperback)
Peter Vanderschraaf
R561 Discovery Miles 5 610 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

The Nash bargaining problem provides a framework for analyzing problems where parties have imperfectly aligned interests. This Element reviews the parts of bargaining theory most important in philosophical applications, and to social contract theory in particular. It discusses rational choice analyses of bargaining problems that focus on axiomatic analysis, according to which a solution of a given bargaining problem satisfies certain formal criteria, and strategic bargaining, according to which a solution results from the moves of ideally rational and knowledgeable claimants. Next, it discusses the conventionalist analyses of bargaining problems that focus on how members of a society can settle into bargaining conventions via learning and focal points. In the concluding section this Element discusses how philosophers use bargaining theory to analyze the social contract.

Idealizations in Physics (Paperback): Elay Shech Idealizations in Physics (Paperback)
Elay Shech
R557 Discovery Miles 5 570 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

This Element offers an opinionated and selective introduction to philosophical issues concerning idealizations in physics, including the concept of and reasons for introducing idealization, abstraction, and approximation, possible taxonomy and justification, and application to issues of mathematical Platonism, scientific realism, and scientific understanding.

Science in an Enchanted World - Philosophy and Witchcraft in the Work of Joseph Glanvill (Hardcover): Julie Davies Science in an Enchanted World - Philosophy and Witchcraft in the Work of Joseph Glanvill (Hardcover)
Julie Davies
R4,140 Discovery Miles 41 400 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Best known as the Saducismus triumphatus (1681), Joseph Glanvill's book on witchcraft is among the most frequently published from the seventeenth century, and its arguments for the reality of diabolic witchcraft elicited passionate responses from critics and supporters alike. Davies untangles the intricate development of this text and explores how Glanvill's roles as theologian, philosopher and advocate for the Royal Society of London converge in its pages. Glanvill's broader philosophical method and unique approach to the supernatural provide a case study that enables the exploration of the interaction between the rise of experimental science and changing attitudes to witchcraft.

Essays on Symmetry (Hardcover): Jenann Ismael Essays on Symmetry (Hardcover)
Jenann Ismael
R4,741 Discovery Miles 47 410 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Drawing from physics and philosophical debates, Ismael combines a set of essays on the time worn debate of symmetry from both fields.

The Explanationist Defense of Scientific Realism (Hardcover): Dorit A. Ganson The Explanationist Defense of Scientific Realism (Hardcover)
Dorit A. Ganson
R3,994 Discovery Miles 39 940 Ships in 12 - 17 working days


Ganson offers new hope in this work for the defence of scientific realism by undermining powerful anti-realist objections and advocating an abandonment of naturalist and externalist strategies.

Who is the Scientist-Subject? - Affective History of the Gene (Hardcover): Esha Shah Who is the Scientist-Subject? - Affective History of the Gene (Hardcover)
Esha Shah
R4,137 Discovery Miles 41 370 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

This book explores two disparate sets of debates in the history and philosophy of the life sciences: the history of subjectivity in shaping objective science and the history of dominance of reductionism in molecular biology. It questions the dominant conception of the scientist-subject as a neo-Kantian ideal self - that is, the scientist as a unified and wilful, self-determined, self-regulated, active and autonomous, rational subject wilfully driven by social and scientific ethos - in favour of a narrative that shows how the microcosm of reductionism is sustained, adopted, questioned, or challenged in the creative struggles of the scientist-subject. The author covers a century-long history of the concept of the gene as a series of "pioneering moments" through an engagement with life-writings of eminent scientists to show how their ways of being and belonging relate with the making of the science. The scientist-self is theorized as fundamentally a feeling, experiencing, and suffering subject split between the conscious and unconscious and constitutive of personality aspects that are emotional/psychological, "situated" (cultural and ideological), metaphysical, intersubjective, and existential at the same time. An engaging interdisciplinary interpretation of the dominance of reductionism in genetic science, this book will be of major interest to scholars and researchers of science, history, and philosophy alike.

After the Science Wars - Science and the Study of Science (Paperback, New): Keith Ashman, Phillip Barringer After the Science Wars - Science and the Study of Science (Paperback, New)
Keith Ashman, Phillip Barringer
R1,287 Discovery Miles 12 870 Ships in 12 - 17 working days


The "War" in science is largely the discussion between those who believe that science is above criticism and those who do not. After the Science Wars is a collection of essays by leading philosophers and scientists, all attempting to bridge interdisciplinary gulfs in this discussion.

After the Science Wars - Science and the Study of Science (Hardcover): Keith Ashman, Phillip Barringer After the Science Wars - Science and the Study of Science (Hardcover)
Keith Ashman, Phillip Barringer
R3,996 Discovery Miles 39 960 Ships in 12 - 17 working days


Author Biography:
Keith Ashman and Phillip Baringer are both at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Kansas, USA.

Song of Two Worlds (Paperback): Alan Lightman Song of Two Worlds (Paperback)
Alan Lightman
R2,231 Discovery Miles 22 310 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

In Alan Lightman's new book, a verse narrative, we meet a man who has lost his faith in all things following a mysterious personal tragedy. After decades of living "hung like a dried fly," emptied and haunted by his past, the narrator awakens one morning revitalized and begins a Dante-like journey to find something to believe in, first turning to the world of science and then to the world of philosophy, religion, and human life. As his personal story is slowly revealed, little by little, we confront the great questions of the cosmos and of the human heart, some questions with answers and others without.

Beyond Physics - Or the Idealisation of Mechanism (Paperback): Sir Oliver Lodge Beyond Physics - Or the Idealisation of Mechanism (Paperback)
Sir Oliver Lodge
R1,046 Discovery Miles 10 460 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Originally published in 1930, Sir Oliver Lodge proposes a connection between physics and philosophy, or as he describes it, a key to unlock the intricate connection between mind and matter. A response to early twentieth century mathematically-led philosophy, Lodge looks at physics from a physical direction rather than from a theoretical model. This title will be of interest to students of philosophy as well physics.

Darwinism and Modern Socialism (Paperback): F. W. Headley Darwinism and Modern Socialism (Paperback)
F. W. Headley
R1,101 Discovery Miles 11 010 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

An adamant fan of Darwin, F.W. Headley attempts to argue the difficulties of believing in Socialism and Darwinism simultaneously and highlights issues which could prevent Socialism from being put into practice. Originally published in 1909, this study uses examples of communities in countries such as England and India to illustrate Headley's key belief that societies only function well if they do not interfere with the fight for existence and natural selection. This title will be of interest to students of Philosophy, Sociology and Anthropology.

Science and Human Progress (Paperback): Oliver Lodge Science and Human Progress (Paperback)
Oliver Lodge
R956 Discovery Miles 9 560 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Originally delivered as a series of lectures for the Halley Stewart trust in 1926, Lodge's work was collected and first published in 1927. Lodge uses his scientific training to inquire into such general issues as religion, human progress, and societal advances with an aim to better understand the physical order of the universe. This title will be of interest to students of philosophy, particularly those interested in the development of early twentieth century thought.

Supercooperators - Altruism, Evolution, and Why We Need Each Other to Succeed (Paperback): Martin Nowak, Roger Highfield Supercooperators - Altruism, Evolution, and Why We Need Each Other to Succeed (Paperback)
Martin Nowak, Roger Highfield
R514 R427 Discovery Miles 4 270 Save R87 (17%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Martin Nowak, one of the world's experts on evolution and game theory, working here with bestselling science writer Roger Highfield, turns an important aspect of evolutionary theory on its head to explain why cooperation, not competition, has always been the key to the evolution of complexity. In his first book written for a wide audience, this hugely influential scientist explains his cutting-edge research into the mysteries of cooperation, from the rise of multicellular life to Good Samaritans, and from cancer treatment to the success of large companies. With wit and clarity, and an eye to its huge implications, Nowak and Highfield make the case that cooperation, not competition, is the defining human trait. "SuperCooperators "will expand our understanding of evolution and provoke debate for years to come.

Getting to Know the World Scientifically - An Objective View (Paperback, 1st ed. 2020): Paul Needham Getting to Know the World Scientifically - An Objective View (Paperback, 1st ed. 2020)
Paul Needham
R1,207 Discovery Miles 12 070 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

This undergraduate textbook introduces some fundamental issues in philosophy of science for students of philosophy and science students. The book is divided into two parts. Part 1 deals with knowledge and values. Chap. 1 presents the classical conception of knowledge as initiated by the ancient Greeks and elaborated during the development of science, introducing the central concepts of truth, belief and justification. Aspects of the quest for objectivity are taken up in the following two chapters. Moral issues are broached in Chap. 4, which discusses some aspects of the use and abuse of science, taking up the responsibilities of scientists in properly conducting their business and decision-makers in their concerns with the import of science for society. Part 2 contrasts the view of scientific progress as the rejecting of old hypotheses and theories and replacing them with new ones, represented by Karl Popper, with the conception of progress as accumulating knowledge, saving as much as possible from older theories, represented by Pierre Duhem. A concluding chapter defends the natural attitude of taking the theories of modern science to be literally true, i.e. realism, in the face of arguments drawn partly from the history of scientific progress in criticism of this stance.

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