Download or read book Realism Rescued written by Jerrold L. Aronson and published by Open Court Publishing. This book was released on 1995 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Does science give us a progressively more accurate and objective account of the world? This book by three leading philosophers of science presents a new defense of scientific realism against skeptical and positivist attacks. While positivists view scientific theories as devices for predicting observable phenomena, realists maintain that theories describe hidden processes which account for observable phenomena. This problem raises the question: What are scientific theories about? Do they refer to an unobservable yet real realm of physical processes? It seems undeniable that the scientific endeavor has in some sense made progress. But is the increasing practical success of the physical sciences good grounds for believing that their theories and techniques lead us nearer to the truth? According to Aronson, Harre, and Way, past failures to answer these questions have been due in large part to the assumption that knowledge is expressed in propositions and organized by the canons of logic. On the assumption that science must meet the world in a correspondence between statements and states of affairs, realism turns out to be difficult to defend. Realism Rescued offers a new direction, relying on the importance of models in scientific work. Theories are not to be thought of as sets of propositions, though they can be expressed propositionally. Rather they are models, chunks of orderings of natural kinds. For the first time, the indispensability of models is turned into a powerful argument for realism, an argument that confronts the skeptic on his own ground. By drawing on a new technique of knowledge representation developed in Artificial Intelligence, the dynamic type-hierarchy, the authorsgive a convincing account of the central role of models. Such concepts as verisimilitude, natural kind, natural necessity, and natural law can then be presented far more clearly than ever before.
Download or read book Philosophy of Language and the Challenge to Scientific Realism written by Christopher Norris and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-06-02 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book Christopher Norris develops the case for scientific realism by tackling various adversary arguments from a range of anti-realist positions. Through a close critical reading he shows how they fail to make adequate sense on any rational, consistent, and scientifically-informed survey of the evidence. Along the way he incorporates a number of detailed case-studies from the history and philosophy of science. Norris devotes much of his discussion to some of the most prominent and widely influential source-texts of anti-realism. Also included are the sophisticated versions of verificationism developed - albeit in very different ways - by thinkers such as Michael Dummett and Bas van Fraassen. Central to Norris's argument is a prolonged engagement with the once highly influential but nowadays neglected work of Norwood Russell Hanson. This book will be welcomed especially by readers who possess some knowledge of the background debate and who wish to deepen and extend their understanding of these issues beyond an introductory level.
Download or read book Quantum Theory and the Flight from Realism written by Christopher Norris and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-11-01 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a critical introduction to the long-standing debate concerning the conceptual foundations of quantum mechanics and the problems it has posed for physicists and philosophers from Einstein to the present. Quantum theory has been a major infulence on postmodernism, and presents significant problems for realists. Keeping his own realist position in check, Christopher Norris subjects a wide range of key opponents and supporters of realism to a high and equal level of scrutiny. With a characteristic combination of rigour and intellectual generosity, he draws out the merits and weaknesses from opposing arguments. In a sequence of closely argued chapters, Norris examines the premises of orthodox quantum theory, as developed most influentially by Bohr and Heisenberg, and its impact on varous philosophical developments. These include the ideas developed by W.V Quine, Thomas Kuhn, Michael Dummett, Bas van Fraassen, and Hilary Puttnam. In each case, Norris argues, these thinkers have been influenced by the orthodox construal of quantum mechanics as requiring drastic revision of principles which had hitherto defined the very nature of scientific method, causal explanati and rational enquiry. Putting the case for a realist approach which adheres to well-tried scientific principles of causal reasoning and inference to the best explanation, Christopher Norris clarifies these debates to a non-specialist readership and scholars of philosophy, science studies and the philosophy of science alike. Quantum Theory and the Flight From Realism suggests that philosophical reflection can contribute to a better understanding of these crucial, current issues.
Download or read book The Routledge Handbook of Scientific Realism written by Juha Saatsi and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-11-22 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientific realism is a central, long-standing, and hotly debated topic in philosophy of science. Debates about scientific realism concern the very nature and extent of scientific knowledge and progress. Scientific realists defend a positive epistemic attitude towards our best theories and models regarding how they represent the world that is unobservable to our naked senses. Various realist theses are under sceptical fire from scientific antirealists, e.g. empiricists and instrumentalists. The different dimensions of the ensuing debate centrally connect to numerous other topics in philosophy of science and beyond. The Routledge Handbook of Scientific Realism is an outstanding reference source – the first collection of its kind – to the key issues, positions, and arguments in this important topic. Its thirty-four chapters, written by a team of international experts, are divided into five parts: Historical development of the realist stance Classic debate: core issues and positions Perspectives on contemporary debates The realism debate in disciplinary context Broader reflections In these sections, the core issues and debates presented, analysed, and set into broader historical and disciplinary contexts. The central issues covered include motivations and arguments for realism; challenges to realism from underdetermination and history of science; different variants of realism; the connection of realism to relativism and perspectivism; and the relationship between realism, metaphysics, and epistemology. The Routledge Handbook of Scientific Realism is essential reading for students and researchers in philosophy of science. It will also be very useful for anyone interested in the nature and extent of scientific knowledge.
Download or read book Realism and Christian Faith written by Andrew Moore and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2003-03-27 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Table of contents
Download or read book A Theory of Minimalism written by Marc Botha and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-10-19 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The explosion of minimalism into the worlds of visual arts, music and literature in the mid-to-late twentieth century presents one of the most radical and decisive revolutions in aesthetic history. Detested by some, embraced by others, minimalism's influence was immediate, pervasive and lasting, significantly changing the way we hear music, see art and read literature. In The Theory of Minimalism, Marc Botha offers the first general theory of minimalism, equally applicable to literature, the visual arts and music. He argues that minimalism establishes an aesthetic paradigm for rethinking realism in genuinely radical terms. In dialogue with thinkers from both the analytic and continental traditions – including Kant, Danto, Agamben, Badiou and Meillassoux – Botha develops a constellation of concepts which together encapsulate the transhistorcial and transdisciplinary reach of minimalism. Illustrated by a range of historical, canonical and contemporary minimalist works of different media, from the caves of early Christian ascetics to Samuel Beckett's late prose, Botha offers a bold and provocative argument which will equip readers with the tools to engage critically with past, present and future minimalism, and to recognize how, in a culture caught between the poles of excess and austerity, minimalism still matters.
Download or read book A Realist Theory of Art History written by Ian Verstegen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-01-03 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the theoretical alignments within academia shift, this book introduces a surprising variety of realism to abolish the old positivist-theory dichotomy that has haunted Art History. Demanding frankly the referential detachment of the objects under study, the book proposes a stratified, multi-causal account of art history that addresses postmodern concerns while saving it from its errors of self-refutation. Building from the very basic distinction between intransitive being and transitive knowing, objects can be affirmed as real while our knowledge of them is held to be fallible. Several focused chapters address basic problems while introducing philosophical reflection into art history. These include basic ontological distinctions between society and culture, general and “special” history, the discontinuity of cultural objects, the importance of definition for special history, scales, facets and fiat objects as forms of historical structure, the nature of evidence and proof, historical truth and controversies. Stressing Critical Realism as the stratified, multi-causal approach needed for productive research today in the academy, this book creates the subject of the ontology of art history and sets aside a theoretical space for metaphysical reflection, thus clarifying the usually muddy distinction between theory, methodology, and historiography in art history.
Download or read book Metamodernism written by Jason Ananda Josephson Storm and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2021-07-20 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Opening -- Part I. Metarealism. How the real world became a fable, or, The realities of social construction -- Part II. Process social ontology. Concepts in disintegration & strategies for demolition ; Process social ontology ; Social kinds -- Part III. Hylosemiotics. Hylosemiotics : the discourse of things -- Part IV. Knowledge and value. Zetetic knowledge ; The revaluation of values -- Conclusion : becoming metamodern.
Download or read book Deconstruction and the Unfinished Project of Modernity written by Christopher Norris and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-11-25 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through a close engagement with some key thinkers, Norris argues that deconstruction is part of the "unfinished project of modernity." a project whose interest and values it upholds by continuing to question them in a spirit of enlightened self-critical inquiry.
Download or read book The Scientific Realism of Rom Harr written by A. A. Derksen and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Epistemology Key Concepts in Philosophy written by Christopher Norris and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2005-10-20 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christopher Norris attempts to make epistemology, the theory of knowledge, accessible to students and those with little prior knowledge of the subject through a series of debates which aim to give an balanced overview.
Download or read book Revitalizing Causality written by Ruth Groff and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This cutting edge collection of new and previously published articles by philosophers and social scientists addresses just what it means to invoke causal mechanisms, or powers, in the context of offering a causal explanation. A unique collection, it offers the reader various disciplinary and inter-disciplinary divides, helping to stake out a new, neo-Aristotelian position within contemporary debate.
Download or read book Encyclopedia of Social Theory written by Austin Harrington and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 728 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Encyclopedia of Social Theory contains over 500 entries varying from concise definitions of key terms and short biographies of key theorists to comprehensive surveys of leading concepts, debates, themes and schools. The object of the Encyclopedia has been to give thorough coverage of the central topics in theoretical sociology as well as terms and concepts in the methodology and philosophy of social science. Although 106 theorists are given entries, the emphasis of the work is on the elucidation of ideas rather than intellectual biography. The Encyclopedia covers the leading contemporary domains of debate on social theory and the classical legacies of social thinkers from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, giving proper balance to both the European and North American traditions and to important new developments in the global self-understanding of sociology. Social theory has become one of the most vigorous specialisms of sociology in recent years. This is in part due to the considerable overlaps of social theory with other disciplinary areas, such as cultural and media studies, anthropology, and political theory, and to the cross-disciplinary nature of theoretical approaches such as feminism and psychoanalysis, and new fields such as postcolonial studies. The editors have therefore worked to produce in the Encyclopedia of Social Theory a first-call reference for students and researchers across the social sciences and humanities with an interest in contemporary theory and the modern history of ideas. The Encyclopedia has been authored by leading international specialists in the field under the direction of a well-balanced editorial team. It is comprehensively cross-referenced and all larger entries carry bibliographies. There is a full index.
Download or read book Critical Scientific Realism written by Ilkka Niiniluoto and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 1999-12-09 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ilkka Niiniluoto comes to the rescue of scientific realism, showing that reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated. Philosophical realism holds that the aim of a particular discourse is to make true statements about its subject-matter. Niiniluoto surveys the different varieties of realism in ontology, semantics, epistemology, theory construction, and methodology. He then sets out his own original version, and defends it against competing theories in the philosophy of science. Niiniluoto's critical scientific realism is founded upon the notion of truth as correspondence between language and reality, and characterizes scientific progress in terms of increasing truthlikeness. This makes it possible not only to take seriously, but also to make precise, the troublesome idea that scientific theories typically are false but nevertheless close to the truth.
Download or read book Concepts of Realism written by Luc Herman and published by Camden House. This book was released on 1996 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examination of the critical discourse on the literary movement of 'realism.' Concepts of Realismsurveys the central episodes in the development of the discourse surrounding 'realism' from its inception, with substantial reference to developments in the United States. It concentrates on modernismand the avant-garde as hostile to the realist movement, but more positive critics of the concept, such as Erich Auerbach and Joseph Stern, also receive ample treatment.
Download or read book Confessions of a Dying Mind written by Haulian Guite and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-06-20 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For thousands of years, philosophers have been struggling to prove God. To modern atheists, these are monumental failures. Atheism, then, is the rational position. Or is it? By combining the most sophisticated philosophies (falsification, scientific method, confirmation holism) with the most advanced sciences (quantum, relativity, evolution theories), "Confessions Of A Dying Mind" takes a fresh look at this oldest and profoundest anxiety of man. Uniquely, the book is a novelized nonfiction - indeed, "the first philosophical novel on God". The story is set in the near-death experience of the atheistic protagonist, Albert Dyers. Its central plot proceeds as an adventurous investigation, argument after argument ... till a certain conclusion becomes inescapable. "Confessions" is laced with novel ideas found nowhere else. It is narrated in a highly readable language for all educated laypersons to comprehend with relative ease. The book is therefore a must-read for theists, atheists, and everyone else interested in exploring the relationship of God and science, in light of leading developments.
Download or read book Hilary Putnam written by Christopher Norris and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study examines Hilary Putnam's work in epistemology, philosophy of science and mathematics, philosophical logic and semantics and cognitive psychology. It takes account of his various shifts in philosophical viewpoint over the past four decades, and demonstrates how Putnam arrived at the different positions he has occupied during his career, and discusses the various forms of anti-realist doctrine with which he has engaged. The workd offers commentary on Putnam's writing about conceptual problems in the interpretation of quantum mechanics and places Putnam's work in a wider philosophical context, relating it to various contemporary debates in epistemology and the philosophy of science.
