Scientific Nihilism

On the Loss and Recovery of Physical Explanation

AvDaniel Athearn

Häftad, Engelska, 1994

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Beskrivning

Scientific nihilism is the widespread and ascendant view that the prospects for genuine understanding in scientific knowledge are distinctly negative. This view is especially characteristic of philosophy of science, and is reflected in a number of professional and popular doctrines. In the background is the growing perception that physical science is presently encountering the inherent limits of scientific understanding.This book shows that the breakoff of narrative causal explanation in physics, although remarkable, is no basis for the negative view of scientific knowledge. It demonstrates that radiation and field phenomena, which include a wide array of enigmatic facts, are amenable to explanation even in their most puzzling details.Athearn responds fully to the assumption that narrative causal explanation in physics has suffered a permanent demise. Rejecting the dogma of a clean bifurcation of philosophy and natural science, he proposes a constructive rehabilitation of natural philosophy.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:1994-03-15
Mått:150 x 229 x 19 mm
Vikt:535 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Serie:SUNY series in Philosophy
Antal sidor:387
Förlag:State University of New York Press
ISBN:9780791418086

Utforska kategorier

Naturvetenskapens filosofi inom Naturvetenskap och teknik

Recensioner i media

"This book is stimulating and enjoyable to read because it is strikingly original and builds a unified thesis on the importance of providing narrative causal accounts in the full explanation of physical systems. The topic is of fundamental significance to physical science, philosophy of science, and to human understanding generally. It has become clear that more abstractions in the form of simulations, models, or physical laws do not, by themselves, constitute full understanding."—Tim Eastman, University of Maryland

Innehållsförteckning

Acknowledgments PART ONE Current Outlooks in the Shadow of the Technicalization of Physics Introduction 1 The Causalist Quest in Physical Science Early Philosophical TurbulenceAdvanced Causalist PhysicsThe New Era of Physics and the Reign of the Cult of Surfaces2 "Law Explanation" Foundations of Logico-EmpiricismInstrumentalism and Antirealism: Breaking the LinkThe "Covering Law" ModelWhy Theory of Explanation?3 Philosophy and the Structure of Causation The Positivist Conception of ScienceSchlick's Humean ArgumentsPositivists on IndeterminismHobart's Defense of HumeIs "Productionism" Anthropomorphism?Conclusions4 Causal Realist Projects, I Composition of CausesOntology of Latent PropertiesThe Success of Critical RealismCausality and ForcesConclusions5 Causal Realist Projects, II The Theory of TransmissionExplanation as a Theme: A Mark of Basic Acausalism"Probabilistic" ProcessConclusionPART TWO Physical Ontology Introduction 6 Radiation and Causality Enigmatic Physical ActivityEmpty Space Events?Causal ContourThe Transition in InteractionConclusion7 Time, Space, and Genetic Structure Whitehead on Time and "Process"A Sense-Making ApplicationThe Ontological ShiftConclusions and Ramifications8 Interatomic Reality Realism and Quantum InterpretationRichness of the Concept of CausalityQuantum MysteriesPropagation and Spatial RepresentationExplanation and Causal CompositionSummary and Transition9 Absolute Causal Reference History of the ProblemWhitehead's SolutionFlat Transition and Structured TransitionConclusion10 Velocity C and Emergent Extension Relativity: Theories, Models, ExplanationsThe Nature of the ProblemFurnishing the Physical ContextWhitehead's TheoryConclusionsNotes Index