Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. X: Testing Scientific Theories

Earman, John (editor)

ISBN 10: 0816611580 / ISBN 13: 9780816611584

Published by Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1983., 1983

About this Item

Octavo. viii, 484 pp. Grey cloth lettered in black. Light shelf-wear, a few faint spots of soiling to boards, no internal markings. Very Good or better.

Seller Inventory # 4112

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. X: Testing Scientific Theories
• Publisher: Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1983.
• Publication Date: 1983
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0816611580
• ISBN 13: 9780816611584
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

Testing Scientific Theories was first published in 1984. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. Since much of a scientist's work consists of constructing arguments to show how experiments and observation bear on a particular theory, the methodologies of theory testing and their philosophical underpinnings are of vital concern to philosophers of science. Confirmation of scientific theories is the topic of Clark Glymour's important book Theory and Evidence ,published in 1980. His negative thesis is that the two most widely discussed accounts of the methodology of theory testing - hypothetico-deductivism and Bayesianism - are flawed. The issues Glymour raises and his alternative "bootstrapping" method provided the focus for a conference sponsored by the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science and for this book. As editor John Earman says in his preface, the papers presented in Testing Scientific Theories germinate so many new ideas that philosophers of science will reap the harvest for years to come. Topics covered include a discussion of Glymour's bootstrapping theory of confirmation, the Bayesian perspective and the problems of old evidence, evidence and explanation, historical case studies, alternative views on testing theories, and testing particular theories, including psychoanalytic hypotheses and hypotheses about the completeness of the fossil record.