With the decline of logical positivism after 1950, much work in the philosophy of science has careened toward an uncritical relativistic approach. Many scholars, faced with a choice between a narrowly restrictive positivism and an “anything goes” relativism, have sought to find a middle path in the debate.In this collection of papers, several of which appear here for the first time, Larry Laudan argues that resolving this dilemma involves not some centrist compromise position but rather a conception of scientific knowledge that goes beyond both positivism and relativism. This conception must begin with the rejection of assumptions about knowledge that these apparently opposed positions hold in common. Relativism, for Laudan, is a particularly self-defeating form of neopositivism.In showing the connections between these two approaches and clarifying the positions of such influential philosophers as Thomas Kuhn and Paul Feyerabend, Laudan does the great service of laying the foundation for an account of science that rejects the errors of positivism without providing aid and comfort to the enemies of reason. He also takes a fresh look at many other central issues of scientific philosophy, including the science/non-science demarcation, the underdetermination of theory by evidence, and the contested role of social factors in the legitimation of scientific knowledge.Beyond Positivism and Relativism is a major statement about the nature of science and evidence that will command the interest of philosophers of science, epistemologists, sociologists of knowledge, and all who are seriously concerned about science, scientific progress, and the implications for knowledge in many other fields.
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About the Author
Larry Laudan is professor of philosophy at the University of Hawaii. He is author of many articles and books on the nature of knowledge, including Progress and Its Problems, Science and Relativism, Science and Hypothesis, and Science and Values.
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First Sentence:
This is a book about a few key problems in the philosophy of science. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
ampliative underdetermination, same positive instances, empirical consequence class, true empirical consequences, underdetermine theory choice, demarcationist tradition, entailment version, ampliative rules, empirical equivalence, methodological enterprise, egalitarian thesis, symmetry thesis, normative naturalism, early acceptors, cumulative retention, canonical achievements, extant rivals, rational symmetry, underdetermine choice, rival methodologies, recalcitrant evidence, demarcation criterion, methodological rules, evidential warrant, cognitive utilities Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Two Dogmas, Thomas Kuhn, Cambridge University Press, Karl Popper, Paul Feyerabend, University of California Press, University of Chicago Press, David Bloor, Against Method, Structure of Scientific Revolutions, The Essential Tension, Oxford University Press, Problems of Empiricism, San Francisco, Familiar Thesis, Gerald Doppelt, Imre Lakatos, Jarrett Leplin, Lowenheim-Skolem Theorem, New York, Vienna Circle New!
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Front Cover | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
This is a book about a few key problems in the philosophy of science. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
ampliative underdetermination, same positive instances, empirical consequence class, true empirical consequences, underdetermine theory choice, demarcationist tradition, entailment version, ampliative rules, empirical equivalence, methodological enterprise, egalitarian thesis, symmetry thesis, normative naturalism, early acceptors, cumulative retention, canonical achievements, extant rivals, rational symmetry, underdetermine choice, rival methodologies, recalcitrant evidence, demarcation criterion, methodological rules, evidential warrant, cognitive utilities Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Two Dogmas, Thomas Kuhn, Cambridge University Press, Karl Popper, Paul Feyerabend, University of California Press, University of Chicago Press, David Bloor, Against Method, Structure of Scientific Revolutions, The Essential Tension, Oxford University Press, Problems of Empiricism, San Francisco, Familiar Thesis, Gerald Doppelt, Imre Lakatos, Jarrett Leplin, Lowenheim-Skolem Theorem, New York, Vienna Circle New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 57
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21
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- The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn on 10 pages
- Knowledge and Social Imagery by David Bloor on 10 pages
- Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge: Proceedings of the International Colloquium in the Philosophy of Science, London, 1965, Vol. 4 by Imre Lakatos on 7 pages
- Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge by Paul Feyerabend on 7 pages
- Word and Object (Studies in Communication) by Willard Van Orman Quine on 5 pages
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- Critical Realism, Post-positivism and the Possibility of Knowledge (Routledge Studies in Critical Realism) by Ruth Groff on page 139, page 140, and Back Matter
- The Truth of Science: Physical Theories and Reality by Roger G. Newton in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Science and the Study of God: A Mutuality Model for Theology and Science by Mr. Alan G. Padgett in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Thinking about Physics (Princeton Paperbacks) by Roger G. Newton in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Reclaiming Identity: Realist Theory and the Predicament of Postmodernism by Paula M. L. Moya on page 309
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