The Philosophy of Science: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy)

Exploring the main themes in the philosophy of science, this core text has been revised and updated to include material on the history of science, social epistemology and feminist philosophy of science.;Book Cover; Title; Copyright; Contents; Acknowledgments; 1 Why philosophy of science?; 2 Explanation, causation and laws; 3 Scientific explanation and its discontents; 4 The structure and metaphysics of scientific theories; 5 The epistemology of scientific theorizing; 6 The challenge of history and postpositivism; 7 The contested character of science and the fundamental questions of philosophy; Glossary; Bibliography; Index. Philosophy of Science: A Contemporary Introduction introduces all the main themes in the philosophy of science, including the nature of causation, explanation, laws, theory, models, evidence, reductionism, probability, teleology, realism and instrumentalism.This substantially revised and updated second edition of a highly successful, accessible and userfriendly text will be of value to any student getting to grips with the nature, methods and justification of science. Alex Rosenberg includes new material on a number of subjects, including: the theory of natural selection, Popper, Lakatos and Leibniz, feminist philosophy of science, logical positivism, the origins of science. This user-friendly text covers key issues in the philosophy of science in an accessible and philosophically serious way. It will prove valuable to students studying philosophy of science as well as science students.Prize-winning author Alex Rosenberg explores the philosophical problems that science raises by its very nature and method. He skilfully demonstrates that scientific explanation, laws, causation, theory, models, evidence, reductionism, probability, teleology, realism and instrumentalism actually pose the same questions that Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, Kant and their successors have grappled with for centuries. Science is perhaps the sole distinctively western institution adopted by all cultures who have come in contact with it. And yet its scope, nature and methods have been contested throughout its history. Philosophy of Science identifies the profound philosophical problems that science raises through an examination of enduring questions about its nature, methods, and justification. Coming to grips with the nature of explanation, laws and causation, among others, turns out to be a matter of facing the same questions that Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, Kant and their successors grappled with. Identifies the philosophical problems that science raises through an examination of questions about its nature, methods and justification. A valuable introduction for science and philosophy students alike. This text identifies the profound philosophical problems that science raises through an examination of enduring questions about its nature, methods and justification Philosophy of science is a difficult subject to define, in large part because philosophy is difficult to define. Alex Rosenberg. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [202]-205) And Index.