Pragmatism and Philosophy of Science

Roberto Gronda is Associate Professor of Philosophy of Science at the University of Pisa. He has published extensively on the pragmatist philosophy of science and on the philosophy of scientific expertise. His most recent monograph is Dewey’s Philosophy of Science (2020)Marianne Janack is the John Stewart Kennedy Professor of Philosophy at Hamilton College, where she teaches courses in epistemology, feminist theory, metaphysics, and philosophy of science. She is the author of What We Mean by Experience (Stanford, 2012) and editor of Feminist Interpretations of Richard Rorty (2008).Giancarlo Marchetti is Associate professor of Philosophy at the University of Perugia. His research interests include American philosophy, pragmatism, and neopragmatism. He is coeditor of Facts and Values: The Ethics and Metaphysics of Normativity (2018) and editor of The Ethics, Epistemology and Politics of Richard Rorty (2023).

"Philosophers of science today increasingly realize that science must be philosophically explored not only in terms of the logical structure of theories and explanations but with reference to inquirers’ engagement in scientific practices. Practice-based philosophy of science needs to be better aware of the rich resources that the actual tradition of pragmatism can offer for such explorations. This collection is a promising move in that direction, demonstrating how pragmatism can help us understand the special problems arising in a wide range of scientific disciplines. It can be highly recommended not only to pragmatism scholars but also to philosophers of science of various persuasions."Sami Pihlström, University of Helsinki, Finland"This collection offers insight into a variety of ways that philosophy of science owes a debt to the pragmatist tradition. It examines the way pragmatism manifests in a variety of the special sciences and the ways that it has intersected with other philosophical approaches in the philosophy of science."Sharon Crasnow, Norco College, USA"These expertly curated essays coalesce under the umbrella of a newly energized pragmatist-oriented philosophy of science. This volume will be welcomed by those who are uneasy with the primacy-of-theory approaches embraced by analytical philosophy, and who view science more broadly in terms of multi-dimensional practices. Excellent introductory materials provide the background and chart the course for this 'practical turn'.”Larry A. Hickman, Former Director, Center for Dewey Studies, Southern Illinois University Carbondale

• Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Pragmatism and Philosophy of Science Roberto Gronda, Marianne Janack and Giancarlo Marchetti Part 1: General Themes 1. Pattern Ontologies at Work Holly K. Andersen 2. Scientific Representation and Normative Inquiry Henrik Rydenfelt 3. Defending Pragmatist Quietism in the Realism/Instrumentalism Debate David Macarthur 4. Affective Rationalism and Pragmatic Philosophies of Science Matthew Crippen 5. Feynman Diagrams and Peircean Semiotics: A Study in Pragmatism Carmen Sánchez-Ovcharov and Mauricio Suárez Part 2: Special Sciences 6. Pragmatism and Mathematics Giovanni Maddalena and Fernando Zalamea 7. A Neopragmatist Intervention in Science Richard Healey 8. Pragmatism and Cognitive Science Pierre Steiner 9. A Pragmatist Philosophy of Economics Julian Reiss 10. On the Uses and Disadvantages of Social Science for Law Douglas Lind and Adrienne Holz 11. Interdisciplinary Environmental Science as Ethical Inquiry Zachary Piso 12. Theology as an Experimental Science: Some Pragmatic Considerations Michael Raposa Part 3: Science and Society 13. The Relevance of Pragmatism for an Open Science Approach Frank Miedema and Siebren Miedema 14. Democratizing Explanatory Practice in the Social Sciences Jeroen Van Bouwel 15. Trust, Expertise, and Scientific Authority in a Democracy: A Pragmatist Approach Matthew J. Brown 16. Thick Scientific Concepts and Public Problems: Citizens as Semantic Contributors Pierluigi Barrotta and Roberto Gronda 17. Pragmatism, Science, and Feminism: William James’s Psychical Research Marianne Janack