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Key Concepts in Philosophy is a series of concise, accessible and
engaging introductions to the core ideas and subjects encountered
in the study of philosophy. Specially written to meet the needs of
students and those with an interest in, but little prior knowledge
of, philosophy, these books open up fascinating, yet sometimes
difficult ideas. The series builds to give a solid grounding in
philosophy and each book is also ideal as a companion to further
study. The philosophical questions raised by the history and
practice of science are among the most complex and stimulating. The
philosophy of science inquires into such matters as scientific
reasoning, scientific explanation, the nature and value of
scientific knowledge, progress in science, and the debate between
realist and anti-realist views of science.
Science has made a huge impact on human society over hundred years,
but how does it work? How do scientists do the things they do? How
do they come up with the theories? How do they test them? How do
they use these theories to explain phenomena? How do they draw
conclusions from them about how the world might be? Now updated,
this second edition of Philosophy of Science: Key Concepts looks at
each of these questions and more. Taking in turn the fundamental
theories, processes and views lying at the heart of the philosophy
of science, this engaging introduction illuminates the scientific
practice and provides a better appreciation of how science actually
works. It features: - Chapters on discovery, evidence, verification
and falsification, realism and objectivity - Accessible overviews
of work of key thinkers such as Galileo, Einstein and Mullis - A
new chapter on explanation - An extended range of easy-to-follow
and contemporary examples to help explain more technical ideas -
Study exercises, an annotated bibliography and suggestions of Where
to Go Next Succinct and approachable, Philosophy of Science: Key
Concepts outlines some of the most central and important scientific
questions, problems and arguments without assuming prior knowledge
of philosophy. This enjoyable introduction is the perfect starting
point for anyone looking to understand how and why science has
shaped and changed our view of the world.
This book (hardcover) is part of the TREDITION CLASSICS. It
contains classical literature works from over two thousand years.
Most of these titles have been out of print and off the bookstore
shelves for decades. The book series is intended to preserve the
cultural legacy and to promote the timeless works of classical
literature. Readers of a TREDITION CLASSICS book support the
mission to save many of the amazing works of world literature from
oblivion. With this series, tredition intends to make thousands of
international literature classics available in printed format again
- worldwide.
Quantum gravity is the name given to a theory that unites general
relativity - Einstein's theory of gravitation and spacetime - with
quantum field theory, our framework for describing
non-gravitational forces. The Structural Foundations of Quantum
Gravity brings together philosophers and physicists to discuss a
range of conceptual issues that surface in the effort to unite
these theories, focusing in particular on the ontological nature of
the spacetime that results. Although there has been a great deal
written about quantum gravity from the perspective of physicists
and mathematicians, very little attention has been paid to the
philosophical aspects. This volume closes that gap, with essays
written by some of the leading researchers in the field. Individual
papers defend or attack a structuralist perspective on the
fundamental ontologies of our physical theories, which offers the
possibility of shedding new light on a number of foundational
problems. It is a book that will be of interest not only to
physicists and philosophers of physics but to anyone concerned with
foundational issues and curious to explore new directions in our
understanding of spacetime and quantum physics.
Da Costa and French explore the consequences of adopting a 'pragmatic' notion of truth in the philosophy of science. Their framework sheds new light on issues to do with belief, theory acceptance, and the realism-antirealism debate, as well as the nature of scientific models and their heuristic development.
This volume builds on two recent developments in philosophy on the
relationship between art and science: the notion of representation
and the role of values in theory choice and the development of
scientific theories. Its aim is to address questions regarding
scientific creativity and imagination, the status of scientific
performances-such as thought experiments and visual aids-and the
role of aesthetic considerations in the context of discovery and
justification of scientific theories. Several contributions focus
on the concept of beauty as employed by practising scientists, the
aesthetic factors at play in science and their role in decision
making. Other essays address the question of scientific creativity
and how aesthetic judgment resolves the problem of theory choice by
employing aesthetic criteria and incorporating insights from both
objectivism and subjectivism. The volume also features original
perspectives on the role of the sublime in science and sheds light
on the empirical work studying the experience of the sublime in
science and its relation to the experience of understanding. The
Aesthetics of Science tackles these topics from a variety of novel
and thought-provoking angles. It will be of interest to researchers
and advanced students in philosophy of science and aesthetics, as
well as other subdisciplines such as epistemology and philosophy of
mathematics.
Can quantum particles be regarded as individuals, just like books,
tables and people? According to the 'received' view - articulated
by several physicists in the immediate aftermath of the quantum
revolution - quantum physics itself tells us they cannot: quantum
particles, unlike their classical counterparts, must be regarded as
'non-individuals' in some sense. However, recent work has indicated
that this is not the whole story and that the theory is also
consistent with the position that such particles can be taken to be
individuals, albeit at a metaphysical price. Drawing on
philosophical accounts of identity and individuality, as well as
the histories of both classical and quantum physics, the authors
explore these two alternative metaphysical packages. In particular,
they argue that if quantum particles are regarded as individuals,
then Leibniz's famous Principle of the Identity of Indiscernibles
is in fact violated. Recent discussions of this conclusion are
analysed in detail and, again, the costs involved in saving the
Principle are carefully considered. Taking the alternative package,
the authors deploy recent work in non-standard logic and set theory
to indicate how we can make sense of the idea that objects can be
non-individuals. The concluding chapter suggests how these results
might then be extended to quantum field theory. Identity in Physics
brings together a range of work in this area and further develops
the authors' own contributions to the debate. Uniquely, as the
title indicates, it situates this work in the appropriate formal,
historical, and philosophical contexts.
Steven French suggests a radical new approach to the understanding
of quantum physics, derived from Husserl's phenomenological
philosophy. In 1939 two physicists, Fritz London and Edmund Bauer,
published an account of measurement in quantum mechanics. Widely
cited, their 'little book' featured centrally in an important
debate over the role of consciousness in that process. However, it
has been fundamentally misunderstood, both in that debate and
beyond. Steven French argues that London, in particular, approached
the measurement process from the perspective of Husserlian
phenomenology, which he had studied as a student and which he
retained an interest in throughout his career. This casts his work
with Bauer in an entirely novel light and suggests a radical
alternative understanding of quantum mechanics in which
consciousness still plays a role but one that is fundamentally
different than previously conceived. Most interpretations of the
theory approach it on the basis of the so-called 'analytic'
tradition in philosophy. However, there has recently been a surge
of interest in 'continental' approaches and this book offers a
significant new contribution to such developments. Intertwining
history and philosophy, it presents London's background in physics
and phenomenology, together with an outline of the latter as
developed by Husserl, Gurwitsch, Merleau-Ponty and others, as well
as a detailed analysis of the work on measurement with Bauer. The
book concludes by comparing the London and Bauer understanding with
that afforded by Fuch's QBism, Everett's 'Many Worlds'
interpretation and Rovelli's Relational Quantum Mechanics. It is
hoped that this exploratory work will open up new avenues of
thought with regard to one of our most fundamental physical
theories.
Science has made a huge impact on human society over hundred years,
but how does it work? How do scientists do the things they do? How
do they come up with the theories? How do they test them? How do
they use these theories to explain phenomena? How do they draw
conclusions from them about how the world might be? Now updated,
this second edition of Philosophy of Science: Key Concepts looks at
each of these questions and more. Taking in turn the fundamental
theories, processes and views lying at the heart of the philosophy
of science, this engaging introduction illuminates the scientific
practice and provides a better appreciation of how science actually
works. It features: - Chapters on discovery, evidence, verification
and falsification, realism and objectivity - Accessible overviews
of work of key thinkers such as Galileo, Einstein and Mullis - A
new chapter on explanation - An extended range of easy-to-follow
and contemporary examples to help explain more technical ideas -
Study exercises, an annotated bibliography and suggestions of Where
to Go Next Succinct and approachable, Philosophy of Science: Key
Concepts outlines some of the most central and important scientific
questions, problems and arguments without assuming prior knowledge
of philosophy. This enjoyable introduction is the perfect starting
point for anyone looking to understand how and why science has
shaped and changed our view of the world.
This book is part of the TREDITION CLASSICS. It contains classical
literature works from over two thousand years. Most of these titles
have been out of print and off the bookstore shelves for decades.
The book series is intended to preserve the cultural legacy and to
promote the timeless works of classical literature. Readers of a
TREDITION CLASSICS book support the mission to save many of the
amazing works of world literature from oblivion. With this series,
tredition intends to make thousands of international literature
classics available in printed format again - worldwide.
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger
Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain
imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed
pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we
have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting,
preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger
Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and
hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger
Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain
imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed
pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we
have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting,
preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger
Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and
hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone
How is that when scientists need some piece of mathematics through
which to frame their theory, it is there to hand? What has been
called 'the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics' sets a
challenge for philosophers. Some have responded to that challenge
by arguing that mathematics is essentially anthropocentric in
character, whereas others have pointed to the range of structures
that mathematics offers. Otavio Bueno and Steven French offer a
middle way, which focuses on the moves that have to be made in both
the mathematics and the relevant physics in order to bring the two
into appropriate relation. This relation can be captured via the
inferential conception of the applicability of mathematics, which
is formulated in terms of immersion, inference, and interpretation.
In particular, the roles of idealisations and of surplus structure
in science and mathematics respectively are brought to the fore and
captured via an approach to models and theories that emphasize the
partiality of the available information: the partial structures
approach. The discussion as a whole is grounded in a number of case
studies drawn from the history of quantum physics, and extended to
contest recent claims that the explanatory role of certain
mathematical structures in scientific practice supports a realist
attitude towards them. The overall conclusion is that the
effectiveness of mathematics does not seem unreasonable at all once
close attention is paid to how it is actually applied in practice.
In Human Behavior Theory and Applications, authors Elizabeth DePoy
and Stephen Gilson use a critical thinking approach to engage
students to think in depth about theory and its use in social work
practice. With a strong focus on diversity, this book expands its
theory coverage to include progressive and the most cutting-edge
contemporary thinking. The authors skillfully introduce theory,
critically examine each theory, including developmental theories,
environmental theories, diversity theories, systems theories, and
new and emerging theories, and then apply each theory to social
work practice providing a synthesis of classical and contemporary
theory for scholarly analysis and application to professional,
intellectual, and social action.
""
"Presenting fully integrative text covering disability from a
variety of disciplines "
""This innovative text first reviews existing theories, then
sets forth a new viewpoint that incorporates elements from
disability studies, sociology, human services, rehabilitation
counseling, and public health. Authors Elizabeth DePoy and Stephen
French Gilson explore the history of disability with a focus on
both Western and non-Western cultures, examine the historical
conceptions of disability and how they have affected the lives and
civil rights of the disabled, and explore a wide range of both
classic and new and emerging theories. The book concludes with a
section on application of theory to practice and policy in the
professional and public realm and the recommendation of a socially
just community.
Can quantum particles be regarded as individuals, just like books,
tables and people? According to the 'received' view - articulated
by several physicists in the immediate aftermath of the quantum
revolution - quantum physics itself tells us they cannot: quantum
particles, unlike their classical counterparts, must be regarded as
'non-individuals' in some sense. However, recent work has indicated
that this is not the whole story and that the theory is also
consistent with the position that such particles can be taken to be
individuals, albeit at a metaphysical price.
Drawing on philosophical accounts of identity and individuality, as
well as the histories of both classical and quantum physics, the
authors explore these two alternative metaphysical packages. In
particular, they argue that if quantum particles are regarded as
individuals, then Leibniz's famous Principle of the Identity of
Indiscernibles is in fact violated. Recent discussions of this
conclusion are analysed in detail and, again, the costs involved in
saving the Principle are carefully considered.
Taking the alternative package, the authors deploy recent work in
non-standard logic and set theory to indicate how we can make sense
of the idea that objects can be non-individuals. The concluding
chapter suggests how these results might then be extended to
quantum field theory.
Identity in Physics brings together a range of work in this area
and further develops the authors' own contributions to the debate.
Uniquely, as the title indicates, it situates this work in the
appropriate formal, historical, and philosophical contexts.
The philosophical questions raised by the history and practice of
science are among the most complex and stimulating. The philosophy
of science inquires into such matters as scientific reasoning,
scientific explanation, the nature and value of scientific
knowledge, progress in science, and the debate between realist and
anti-realist views of science. Science: Key Concepts in Philosophy
is the ideal first stop for the student wishing to get to grips
with this challenging subject. Written with the specific needs of
students new to the discipline in mind, it covers the work of key
thinkers and outlines clearly the central questions, problems and
arguments encountered in studying the philosophy of science. The
book considers such fundamentals as discovery, evidence,
verification and falsification, realism and objectivity. It also
draws on specific examples from the history of science to further
illuminate the philosophical questions addressed. This is a
practical and informative introduction to a major component of the
undergraduate philosophy curriculum, as well as being a support to
ongoing study.
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