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[Pages:323]A Historical Introduction to the Philosophy of Science,

Fourth edition

John Losee

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

A Historical Introduction to the Philosophy of Science

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A Historical Introduction to the

Philosophy of Science

Fourth edition

John Losee

1

3

Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogot? Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Paris S?o Paulo Shanghai Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw with associated companies in Berlin Ibadan

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Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York

? John Losee 1972, 2001

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First published 1972

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available ISBN 0?19?870055?5

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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Preface

This book is a historical sketch of the development of views about scientific method. Its emphasis is on developments prior to 1940. No attempt has been made to reproduce the contemporary spectrum of positions on the philosophy of science. My purpose has been exposition rather than criticism, and I have endeavoured to abstain from passing judgement on the achievements of the great philosophers of science.

It is my hope that this book may be of interest both to students of the philosophy of science and to students of the history of science. If, on reading this book, a few such students are encouraged to consult some of the works listed in the Bibliography at the end of the book, I shall consider my effort to have been well spent.

I have received numerous helpful suggestions from Gerd Buchdahl, George Clark, and Rom Harr? in the preparation of this volume. I am most grateful, both for their encouragement, and for their criticism. Of course, responsibility for what has emerged is mine alone.

Lafayette College July 1971

Preface to the Second Edition

The discussion of post-Second-World-War developments has been reorganized and expanded in the second edition. There are new chapters on the Logical Reconstructionism of Carnap, Hempel, and Nagel; the critical reaction to this orientation; and the alternative approaches of Kuhn, Lakatos, and Laudan.

August 1979

Preface to the Third Edition

The third edition includes new material on theories of scientific progress, causal explanation, Bayesian confirmation theory, scientific realism, and alternatives to prescriptive philosophy of science.

September 1992

vi prefaces

Preface to the Fourth Edition

Contributions to the discipline have continued at an accelerated pace since publication of the Third Edition. The Fourth Edition incorporates, in Chapters 12?19, recent work on theory-appraisal, experimental practice, theories of explanation, normative naturalism, the debate over scientific realism, and the philosophy of biology.

Contents

Introduction

1

1 Aristotle's Philosophy of Science

4

2 The Pythagorean Orientation

14

3 The Ideal of Deductive Systematization

20

4 Atomism and the Concept of Underlying Mechanism

24

5 Affirmation and Development of Aristotle's Method in the

Medieval Period

26

6 The Debate over Saving the Appearances

39

7 The Seventeenth-Century Attack on Aristotelian Philosophy

46

I. Galileo

46

II. Francis Bacon

54

III. Descartes

63

8 Newton's Axiomatic Method

72

9 Analyses of the Implications of the New Science for a Theory

of Scientific Method

86

I. The Cognitive Status of Scientific Laws

86

II. Theories of Scientific Procedure

103

III. Structure of Scientific Theories

117

10 Inductivism v. the Hypothetico-Deductive View of Science

132

11 Mathematical Positivism and Conventionalism

143

12 Logical Reconstructionist Philosophy of Science

158

13 Orthodoxy under Attack

177

14 Theories of Scientific Progress

197

15 Explanation, Causation, and Unification

210

16 Confirmation, Evidential Support, and Theory Appraisal

220

17 The Justification of Evaluative Standards

236

18 The Debate over Scientific Realism

252

19 Descriptive Philosophies of Science

264

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