Appraising Lakatos: Mathematics, Methodology, And The Man (vienna Circle Institute Library)

Imre Lakatos (1922-1974) was one of the protagonists in shaping the "new philosophy of science". More than 25 years after his untimely death, it is time for a critical re-evaluation of his ideas. His main theme of locating rationality within the scientific process appears even more compelling today, after many historical case studies have revealed the cultural and societal elements within scientific practices. Recently there has been, above all, an increasing interest in Lakatos' philosophy of mathematics, which emphasises heuristics and mathematical practice over logical justification. But suitable modifications of his approach are called for in order to make it applicable to modern axiomatised theories. Pioneering historical research in England and Hungary has unearthed hitherto unknown facts about Lakatos' personal life, his wartime activities and his involvement in the political developments of post-war Europe. From a communist activist committed to Györgyi Lukács' thinking, Lakatos developed into a staunch anti-Marxist who found his intellectual background in Popper's critical rationalism. The volume also publishes for the first time a part of his Debrecen Ph.D. thesis and it is concluded by a bibliography of his Hungarian writings. Front Matter....Pages i-xiv Front Matter....Pages 1-2 The Propositional Content of the Popper-Lakatos Rift....Pages 3-12 Lakatos’ Criticisms Of Popper....Pages 13-22 Professor Lakatos Between the Hegelian Devil and the Popperian Deep Blue Sea....Pages 23-52 Explaining Scientific Progress: Lakatos’ Methodological Account of Kuhnian Patterns of Theory Change....Pages 53-71 Lakatos, Reason and History....Pages 73-83 “Heuristic Power” and the “Logic of Scientific Discovery”: Why the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes is Less Than Half the Story....Pages 85-99 Lakatos on Crucial Experiments and the History of Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics....Pages 101-111 Front Matter....Pages 113-114 Argumentation and the Mathematical Process....Pages 115-138 Towards an Evolutionary Account of Conceptual Change in Mathematics: Proofs and Refutations and the Axiomatic Variation of Concepts....Pages 139-156 What Lakatos Could Teach the Mathematical Physicist....Pages 157-187 Lakatos’ Mitigated Scepticism in the Philosophy of Mathematics....Pages 189-210 Lakatos’ Methodology Between Logic and Dialectic....Pages 211-241 Mathematical Heuristic — Lakatos and Pólya....Pages 243-254 Lakatos and Aspects of Mathematics Education....Pages 255-260 Front Matter....Pages 261-262 The Unforgiven: Imre Lakatos’ Life in Hungary....Pages 263-302 Lakatos and Lukács....Pages 303-338 Lakatos’ Political Reawakening....Pages 339-349 Front Matter....Pages 351-351 A Documentation Arranged by Gábor Kutrovátz....Pages 353-374 Back Matter....Pages 375-382 Imre Lakatos (1922-1974) was one of the protagonists in shaping the "new philosophy of science". More than 25 years after his untimely death, it is time for a critical re-evaluation of his ideas. His main theme of locating rationality within the scientific process appears even more compelling today, after many historical case studies have revealed the cultural and societal elements within scientific practices. Recently there has been, above all, an increasing interest in Lakatos' philosophy of mathematics, which emphasises heuristics and mathematical practice over logical justification. But suitable modifications of his approach are called for in order to make it applicable to modern axiomatised theories. Pioneering historical research in England and Hungary has unearthed hitherto unknown facts about Lakatos' personal life, his wartime activities and his involvement in the political developments of post-war Europe. From a communist activist committed to Györgyi Lukács' thinking, Lakatos developed into a staunch anti-Marxist who found his intellectual background in Popper's critical rationalism. The volume also publishes for the first time a part of his Debrecen Ph. D. thesis and it is concluded by a bibliography of his Hungarian writings