Copernican Questions: A Concise Invitation to the Philosophy of Science
This provocative, focused, and succinct new text addresses two issues integral to the study of the philosophy of science: the rationality of science and the realism question. Students are invited to think deeply about salient issues as they explore collections of cases and examples, beginning by considering the founding document of modern science, Copernicus’s On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, and including discussions of other key readings such as Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of...
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This provocative, focused, and succinct new text addresses two issues integral to the study of the philosophy of science: the rationality of science and the realism question. Students are invited to think deeply about salient issues as they explore collections of cases and examples, beginning by considering the founding document of modern science, Copernicus’s On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, and including discussions of other key readings such as Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Author Keith Parsons challenges students’ thinking, offering his own views while providing a solid foundation for debate.
Preface for Instructors Preface for StudentsChapter One: Copernican QuestionsWhat Was Copernicus's Revolution?What Happens When Your World Changes?Copernican Questions: Rationality and RealismFurther Readings for Chapter OneChapter Two: Is Science Really Rational? The Problem of IncommensurabilityIncommensurability of StandardsIncommensurability of ValuesIncommensurability of Meaning Evaluating Meaning IncommensurabilityConversion: A Concluding Case StudyFurther Readings for Chapter TwoChapter Three: A Walk on the Wild Side: Social Constructivism, Postmodernism, Feminism, and that Old-Time ReligionThe Constructivist ChallengePostmodernism Attacks!Is "Objectivity" What a Man Calls His Subjectivity?Is Science Godless?Further Readings for Chapter ThreeChapter Four: Ascending the Slippery Slope: Scientific Progress and TruthThe Evils of Whig HistorySocial Constructivist HistoryDoes Science Converge towards Truth?Assessing Laudan’s Critique of Convergent RealismScientists' Own RealismCould We Be Wrong about Everything?Further Readings for Chapter FourChapter Five: Truth or Consequences?Electrons: Real Particles or Convenient Fictions?Van Fraassen's Constructive EmpiricismDo We Observe through Microscopes?But What about Things that Are Really Unobservable?So, What Really Is the Goal of Science?Further Readings for Chapter Five
