Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction

Abstract

1. What is science? A very short history of science Does science have an essential nature? Science and pseudo-science 2. Scientific reasoning Induction and deduction Hume's problem Two types of inductive reasoning Probability and induction 3. Explanation in science The 'covering-law' model of explanation Alternative models of explanation Can science explain everything? 4. Realism and anti-realism about science Scientific realism Objections to scientific realism Varieties of anti-realism 5. Scientific change and scientific revolutions Explaining scientific change Thomas Kuhn on 'normal' and 'revolutionary' science Sociological accounts of scientific change 6. Philosophical problems in physics, biology and linguistics Leibniz versus Newton on absolute space The problem of biological classification Is knowledge of language innate 7. Science and its critics Is science a good thing? Science and religion The science wars

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