Rosenberg, Alex <br/><br/>
Philosophy of Science   A Contemporary Introduction 

 - 3th ed.  
 - London  Routledge  2012 
 - 308p 
<br/><br/> includes index and biblioraphy 
<br/><br/>1      Philosophy and Science	I<br/>Overview	I<br/>What Is Philosophy?	I<br/>Philosophy and the Emergence of the Sciences	3<br/>Science and the Divisions of Philosophy	5<br/>What if There Are No Questions Left Over when Science Is Finished?	6<br/>A Short History of Philosophy as the Philosophy of Science                  8<br/>2      Why Is Philosophy of Science Important?	21<br/>Overview	21<br/>Scientific Questions and Questions about Science	21<br/>Modern Science Has Implications for Philosophy	24<br/>The Cultural Significance of Science	30<br/>Why Is Science the Only Feature of Western Culture Universally Adopted?	33<br/>3      Scientific Explanation	39<br/>Overview	39<br/>Defining Scientific Explanation	40<br/>The Role of Laws in Scientific Explanation	42<br/>The Covering Law Model	45<br/>Problems for the Covering Law Model	48<br/>A Competing Conception of Scientific Explanation	53<br/>Why Do Laws Explain?<br/>Overview<br/>What Is a Law of Nature?<br/>Counterfactual Support as a Symptom of the Necessity of Laws<br/>Counterfactuals and Causation<br/>Coming to Grips with Nomic Necessity<br/>Denying the Obvious?<br/>Causation, Inexact Laws and Statistical Probabilities<br/>Overview<br/>Causes as Explainers<br/>Ceteris Par/bus Laws<br/>Statistical Laws and Probabilistic Causes<br/>Explanation as Unification<br/>Laws and Explanations in Biology and the "Special Sciences"<br/>Overview<br/>Dissatisfaction with Causal Explanations<br/>Proprietary Laws in the "Special Sciences"<br/>Functional Laws and Biological Explanations<br/>Explaining Purposes or Explaining Them Away?<br/>From Intelligibility to Necessity<br/>The Structure of Scientific Theories<br/>Overview<br/>How Do Theories Work? The Example of Newtonian Mechanics Theories as Explainers: The Hypothetico-Deductive Model The Philosophical Significance of Newtonian Mechanics and<br/>Theories  <br/>Epistemic and Metaphysical Issues About Scientific Theories<br/>Overview<br/>Reduction, Replacement and the Progress of Science<br/>The Problem of Theoretical Terms<br/>Scientific Realism vs. Antirealism<br/>9      Theory Construction vs. Model Building	161<br/>Overview	161<br/>Theories and Models	162<br/>Semantic vs. Syntactic Approaches to Theories and Models               166<br/>A Case Study: Darwin`s Theory of Natural Selection	169<br/>Models and Theories in Evolutionary Biology	173<br/>10      Induction and Probability<br/>Overview<br/>The Problem of Induction<br/>Statistics and Probability to the Rescue?<br/>How Much Can Bayes` Theorem Really Help?<br/>Confirmation, Falsification, Underdetermination<br/>Overview<br/>Epistemological Problems of Hypothesis Testing<br/>Induction as a Pseudo-Problem: Popper`s Gambit<br/>Underdetermination<br/>2     Challenges from the History of Science<br/>Overview<br/>A Role for History in the Philosophy of Science?<br/>New Paradigms and Scientific Revolutions<br/>Are Scientific Research Programs Rational?	230<br/>13      Naturalism in the Philosophy of Science	237<br/>Overview	237<br/>Quine and the Surrender of First Philosophy	237<br/>Naturalism, Multiple Realizability and Supervenience	242<br/>Naturalism`s Problem of Justification	248<br/>14      The Contested Character of Science	253<br/>Overview	253<br/>Methodological Anarchism	254<br/>The "Strong Program" in the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge       256<br/>Postmodernism and the Science Wars	261<br/>Does the Sokal Hoax Prove Anything?	263<br/>Scientism, Sexism and Significant Truths	265<br/>15      Science, Relativism and Objectivity	273<br/>Overview	273<br/>Relativism and Conceptual Schemes	273<br/>Dealing with Incommensurability	277<br/>Conclusion: The Very Idea of a Conceptual Scheme	281<br/> 
<br/><br/><label>ISBN: </label>9780415891776  2229 
<br/><br/><label>Dewey Class. No.: </label>N54  / R723