ABSTRACT

This indispensable reference source and guide to the major themes, debates, problems and topics in philosophy of science contains fifty-five specially commissioned entries by a leading team of international contributors. Organized into four parts it covers:

  • historical and philosophical context
  • debates
  • concepts
  • the individual sciences.

The Companion covers everything students of philosophy of science need to know - from empiricism, explanation and experiment to causation, observation, prediction and more - and contains many helpful features including: a section on the individual sciences, including chapters on the philosophy of biology, chemistry, physics and psychology, further reading and cross-referencing at the end of each chapter.

part |2 pages

PART I Historical and philosophical context

chapter 3|10 pages

METAPHYSICS

chapter 4|11 pages

PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE

chapter 5|11 pages

THE ROLE OF LOGIC IN PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

chapter 6|9 pages

CRITICAL RATIONALISM

chapter 8|13 pages

LOGICAL EMPIRICISM

chapter 9|10 pages

PRAGMATISM AND SCIENCE

part |2 pages

PART II Debates

chapter 10|12 pages

BAYESIANISM

chapter 11|14 pages

Confirmation ALAN HÁJEk AND JAMES M. JOYCE

chapter 12|10 pages

EMPIRICISM

chapter 13|10 pages

ESSENTIALISM AND NATURAL KINDS

chapter 14|10 pages

ETHICS OF SCIENCE

chapter 15|12 pages

EXPERIMENT

chapter 16|11 pages

EXPLANATION

chapter 18|10 pages

INFERENCE TO THE BEST EXPLANATION

chapter 19|10 pages

LAWS OF NATURE

chapter 20|11 pages

NATURALISM

chapter 21|12 pages

REALISM/ANTI-REALISM

chapter 22|12 pages

RELATIVISM ABOUT SCIENCE

chapter 23|11 pages

SCIENTIFIC METHOD

chapter 24|10 pages

SOCIAL STUDIES OF SCIENCE

chapter 25|12 pages

THE STRUCTURE OF THEORIES

chapter 26|11 pages

THEORY-CHANGE IN SCIENCE

chapter 27|10 pages

UNDERDETERMINATION

chapter 28|13 pages

VALUES IN SCIENCE

part |2 pages

PART III Concepts

chapter 29|10 pages

CAUSATION

chapter 30|10 pages

DETERMINISM

chapter 31|12 pages

EVIDENCE

chapter 32|9 pages

FUNCTION

chapter 33|9 pages

IDEALIZATION

chapter 35|9 pages

MECHANISMS

chapter 36|11 pages

MODELS

chapter 37|9 pages

Observation ANDRé kUkLA

chapter 38|9 pages

PREDICTION

chapter 39|11 pages

PROBABILITY

chapter 40|10 pages

REDUCTION

chapter 41|7 pages

REPRESENTATION IN SCIENCE

chapter 42|10 pages

SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY

chapter 43|16 pages

Space and time OLIvER POOLEY

chapter 44|10 pages

SYMMETRY

chapter 45|11 pages

TRUTHLIKENESS

chapter 46|9 pages

UNIFICATION

chapter 47|11 pages

THE VIRTUES OF A GOOD THEORY

part |2 pages

PART IV Individual sciences

chapter 48|9 pages

BIOLOGY

chapter 49|11 pages

CHEMISTRY

chapter 50|12 pages

COGNITIVE SCIENCE

chapter 51|12 pages

Economics USkALI MÄkI

chapter 52|12 pages

Mathematics PETER CLARk

chapter 53|14 pages

PHYSICS

chapter 54|13 pages

PSYCHOLOGY

chapter 55|11 pages

Social sciences HAROLD kINCAID