Scientific Knowledge Basic Issues in the Philosophy of Science

Containing 31 readings reflecting the dynamism of the field, this book provides readers with the most current and relevant readings available on issues in the philosophy of science. All of the readings have been selected based on their clarity and coverage of the prevailing debates in the philosophy of science--from logical positivism to anit-realism. The book assumes no specialized training in formal logic or scientific methods and therefore can be appreciated by a wide range of readers.

Philosophy of Science: An Overview. PART ONE: THE SOCIAL CONTEXT IN WHICH SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE IS PRODUCED. Gerald Holton: "On the Psychology of Scientists, and Their Social Concerns." Marguerite Holloway: "A Lab of Her Own." Natalie Angier: "Women Join the Ranks of Science but Remain Invisible at the Top." Shirley Tilghman: "Science v. the Female Scientist." Shirley Tilghman: "Science v. Women-A Radical Solution." Bruno Latour and Stever Woolgar: "An Anthropologist Visits the Laboratory." PART TWO: THE EMPIRICAL BASIS OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE. Karl Popper: "The Problem of the Empirical Basis." Norwood Russell Hanson: "Observation." Steven Shapin: "Pump and Circumstance: Robert Boyle's Literary Technology." Ann Oakley: "Interviewing Women: A Contradiction in Terms." Andy Pickering: "Against Putting the Phenomena First: The Discovery of the Week Neutral Current." PART THREE: THE VALIDATION OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE. Rudolph Carnap: "The Confirmation of Laws and Theories." Karl Popper: "Science: Conjectures and Refutations." Pierre Duhem: "Physical Theory and Experiment." Imre Lakatos: "Falsification and the Methodology of Scien- tific Research Pogrammes." Thomas Kuhn: "Objectivity, Value Judgment, and Theory Choice." Ruth Hubbard: "Have Only Men Evolved." Helen Longino: "Can There Be a Feminist Science?" PART FOUR: THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE. Carl Hempel: "Explanation in Science?" Paul Oppenheim and Hilary Putnam: "Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis." Karl Popper: The Rationality of Scientific Revolutions." Thomas Kuhn: "The Function of Dogma in Scientific Research." Thomas Kuhn: "The Nature and Necessity of Scientific Reasoning." Larry Landau: "Dissecting the Holist Picture of Scientific Change." PART FIVE: REALISM VERSUS ANTI-REALISM: THE ONTOLOGICAL IMPORT OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE. Grover Marshall: "The Ontological Status of Theoretical Entities." Bas van Fraassen: "Arguments Concerning Scientific Realism." Ernan McMullin: "A Case for Scientific Realism." Arthur Fine: "The Natural Ontological Attitude." Evelyn Fox Keller: "Critical Silences in Scientific Discourse: Problems of Form and Reform." Michael Gardner: "Realism and Instrumentalism in Pre-Newtonian Astronomy." Ian Hacking: "Experimentation and Scientific Realism."