Lakatos: An Introduction [Paperback]

Brendan Larvor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 21, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0415142768 | ISBN-13: 978-0415142762 | Edition: 1

Lakatos: An Introduction is the first comprehensive book on the highly influential philosopher of science, Imre Lakatos. Lakatos: An Introduction clearly presents: Lakatos's development of a philosophy of mathematics and empirical science Lakatos's thought as an important hybrid of Popperian philosophy and Hegelian-Marxist thought the relationship between Lakatos's views on science and mathematics and his more general philosophical beliefs. Brendan Larvor hence provides a thorough overview of both Lakatos's thought and his place in Twentieth Century philosophy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This is a gem of a book. In 110 pages of text, Larvor gives us a lucid, systemmatic, and original analysis and criticism of Lakatos's writings.
–Teaching Philosophy, March 2000

A proper appreciation of Lakatos's unique contribution to both the philosophy of science and the philosophy of mathematics is long overdue. Larvor's work is a perceptive study, and it can only be hoped that it will lead to a better understanding of the importance of Lakatos's thinking about the development and appraisal of his theories.
–George S. Botterill

Lakatos: An Introduction is very well written. The style is clean and economical, not cluttered by jargon, and flows well. I would use this as a text in an undergraduate course as well as in a graduate level course.
–Mary Tiles, University of Hawaii at Manoa

About the Author

Brendan Larvor is Lecturer of Philosophy at University of Oxford.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (March 21, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415142768
• ISBN-13: 978-0415142762
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #328,544 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lucid and Accessible, December 10, 2001

By 

Tom Gray (Fort-Coulonge, Quebec Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lakatos: An Introduction (Paperback)

I am a layman with interest in philosophical concepts and how they can be applied to my own field of study. I am presenting this review as of interest to other layman and not of direct interest to professions in this field.

The above being said, I found this book to be a lucid and accessible introduction to the ideas of Lakatos. I would recommend it to anyone else who is in my position of trying to understand the philosophical space without an exhaustive philosophical background..

Larvor presents Lakatos ideas in an historical manner. He relates them to the ideas of Kuhn and Popper that they advanced. He shows their origin in Lakatos' personal background in Hegel and Marx. The connections to these other thinkers is made clear with their ideas as they relate to Lakatos work thoroughly explained. This connection provides and understanding of not only Lakatos' work in their context but of the broader scope of their ideas in philosophy.

I would recommend this book to anyone who like me would like to understand the ides brought forth in philosophical investigations but lacks a formal background. It is an excellent book for self-instruction. It provides a clear grounding that makes the reading of the books by these major thinkers much more worthwhile. I had read Lakatos, Kuhn and Popper before I read this book. This book greatly helped me by giving greater clarity to the ideas that I had found there and by making subtle but important issues that I had not understood sufficiently much clearer.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a difficult subject treated with wonderful lucidity and brevity, January 22, 2010

By 

Jerry L. Martin (Bucks County PA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lakatos: An Introduction (Paperback)

This book is a masterpiece of its kind. I am a philosopher but not at all a philospher of science or (even less) of mathematics, but this little guide makes it quite clear why Lakatos is so highly regarded a thinker who steers a course between the relativist tendencides of a Kuhn and the unworldly rigidity of the formalists and Popperians. I was particularly impressed with his precise understanding of the dialectical nature of Lakatos' thinking. Dialectic, both in Plato and in Hegel, is a subtle form of thinking and often misunderstood. Larvor explains it expertly and yet simply. He also shows an easy familiarity with recently French thinking on the same topics. I have rarely learned so much from so short a book!