Bøger i Routledge Library Editions: History & Philosophy of Science serien

Argues that philosophy ought to be more than the art of clarifying thought and that it should concern itself with outlining a scientifically plausible world view. This book deals with phenomenalism and the reality of theoretical entities, and with the relation between the physical and biological sciences.

Can one discern certain regularities in the manoeuvrings and techniques employed by scientists and can these be formulated into the methodological principles of science? What is the origin and basis of such principles? This book investigates these questions and sheds light on the growth mechanism of the evolving structure of science itself.

Analyzes the general structure of scientific theories, their relation to experience and to non-scientific thought. This book focuses on the logic underlying empirical discourse before its subjection to the various constraints, imposed by the logico-mathematical framework of scientific theories upon their content.

The original tension within Marxist philosophy between positivism and metaphysics was repressed but not resolved in this first phase of Soviet Marxism. This book correlates the development of ideas with trends in the Cultural Revolution.

Taking a radical interpretation of the Kuhnian concept of paradigm incommensurability, this book discusses the difficulties of gaining access to the ideas of communities with different rational categories. It defines the subject area of parapsychology, offering a review of the relevant literature.

Presents an examination of warrant statements - statements which indicated something about the grounds on behalf of some further judgement, choice or action. This book studies the role of warrant statements in theoretical discourse. It also concerns their role in practical discourse.

The boundaries of space exploration are being pushed back constantly, but the realm of the partially understood and the totally unknown is as great as ever. This book deals with astronomical instruments and their application, discoveries in the solar system, stellar evolution, the exploding starts, the galaxies, quasars, and pulsars.

Charles Wheatstone collaborated with William Cooke in the invention and early exploitation of the Electric Telegraph. This was the first long distance, faster-than-a-horse messenger. This book discusses the way in which two such antagonistic men were driven into collaboration and sets out the history of the early telegraph lines.

Presents an introduction to the philosophy of the social sciences. This book provides answers to questions about empiricism, explanation and rationality. It evaluates contemporary writings on the subject which can be as difficult as they are important to understand.

Deals with issues of bureaucracy in science threatening its creativity and the failure of industry to recruit the best graduates, as well as what attracts people to study science.

Focuses on the awareness of science and art, evolution and Freudian psychology. This book discusses criticism, the fantasy element in drama and popular literature, the history of the novel, the motivation of science and the function of erotic art.

Investigates the royal society's underlying purpose and creation. This book covers the real nature of its debt to Francis Bacon and its role in the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century.

Explains what is wrong with the traditional methodology of 'inductive' reasoning.

Puts forward unorthodox ideas about the philosophy of and sociology of science, starting from the conviction that modern societies face deep problems arising from unresolved dilemmas about the meaning, content and technical applications of the theories of nature they employ.

Outlines some of the important innovations in astronomy, natural philosophy and medicine which took place in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and shows how the transformation in world-view during the period was affected by broader historical terms. This book discusses themes such as the spread of Puritanism, and the decline of witchcraft.

Discoveries in modern biology can radically change human life as we know it. As our understanding of living processes, such as inheritance, grows, so do the possibilities of applying these results for good and evil, such as the treatment of disease, and the control of ageing. This book discusses these discoveries and their implications.

This book is a critical survey of the views of scientific inference that have been developed since the end of World War I. It contains some detailed exposition of ideas ¿ notably of Keynes ¿ that were cryptically put forward, often quoted, but nowhere explained.

The main concern of this book is the nature of the gap between the theoretical issues, raised at an abstract level by social scientists, and their facts, the material organized in an empirical analysis.

Offers an interpretation that portrays science and religion in their actualities as personal, communal and cultural phenomena involving different concerns, conceptions and modes of inquiry.

Explores some features of modern philosophy of science from the point of view of their utility for sociology's self-understanding. This book explores the failings of the old 'received view' and some alternatives. It proposes a schematic outline of the structure of inquiry, paying attention to questions about the nature of theory.

A survey of the views of scientific inference that have been developed since the end of World War I. It contains exposition of ideas - notably of Keynes. It discusses and illustrates the method of hypothesis. It also considers aspects of the theory of probability that seem to bear on the problem of induction.

Representing the viewpoints of philosophers, psychologists, anthropologists, physicists, psychoanalysts, parapsychologists, psychiatrists and biologists, this book discusses many aspects of ESP.

Traces the development of the astronomical revolution which so drastically altered man's view of the universe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Learned societies, such as the Royal Society of London and the Dublin Philosophical Society were a central feature of the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. This title shows that a study of the work and membership of these groups is essential before any realistic assessment can be made of the scientific world at this time.

Covers six eminent British scientists whose work and personality have not receded into the same depth of perspective as their predecessors of the Nineteenth Century, but the tremendous changes following the two world wars have already cut them off sharply from this generation.

Explores issues which have shaped modern physics and which hint at what may form the scientific revolution. This book discusses the understanding of time and space, quantum and relativity theories and attempts to unite them and related questions in theoretical biology.

Emphasising that chalk, limestone and coal seams are the residues of ancient life, this book suggests that this knowledge may also be applied to the rest of matter. It argues that the origin of the world was not cosmic upheaval which broke down at last into life, but organic life itself.