NEW PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES ON SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS

This collection of original essays offers a comprehensive examination of scientific progress which has been a central topic in recent debates in philosophy of science Traditionally debates over scientific progress have focused on different methodological approaches notably the epistemic and semantic approaches The chapters in Part I of the book examine these two traditional approaches as well as the newly revived functional and newly developed noetic approaches Part II features in depth case studies of scientific progress from the history of science The chapters cover individual sciences including physics chemistry evolutionary biology seismology psychology sociology economics and medicine Finally Part III of the book explores important issues from contemporary philosophy of science These chapters address the implications of scientific progress for the scientific realism anti realism debate incommensurability values in science idealisation scientific speculation interdisciplinarity and scientific perspectivalism New Philosophical Perspectives on Scientific Progress will be of interest to researchers and advanced students working on the history and philosophy of science