Science and Partial Truth
A Unitary Approach to Models and Scientific Reasoning
1st Edition
Published on 18. September 2003
270 pages
978-0-19-803553-4 (ISBN)
Description
In the past thirty years, two fundamental issues have emerged in the philosophy of science. One concerns the appropriate attitude we should take towards scientific theories--whether we should regard them as true or merely empirically adequate, for example. The other concerns the nature of scientific theories and models and how these might best be represented.
In this ambitious book, da Costa and French bring these two issues together by arguing that theories and models should be regarded as partially rather than wholly true. They adopt a framework that sheds new light on issues to do with belief, theory acceptance, and the realism-antirealism debate. The new machinery of "partial structures" that they develop offers a new perspective from which to view the nature of scientific models and their heuristic development. Their conclusions will be of wide interest to philosophers and historians of science.
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Newton C. A. da Costa | Steven French
Science and Partial Truth
A Unitary Approach to Models and Scientific Reasoning
Book
11/2003
Oxford University Press
€195.50
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Persons
Newton da Costa is a Member of the Research Group on Logic and Foundations at the Institute of Advanced Study of the University of São Paolo.
Steven French is Professor of Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds.
Content
- Intro
- Contents
- Introduction: Aims and Overview
- 1. Truth, the Whole Truth, and Partial Truth
- 2. Theories and Models
- 3. Models and Models
- 4. Acceptance, Belief, and Commitment
- 5. Inconsistency in Science
- 6. Partiality, Pursuit, and Practice
- 7. Quasi Truth and the Nature of Induction
- 8. From Pragmatic Realism to Structural Empiricism
- 9. Extensions
- Notes
- References
- Index
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
