Philosophy of Science

Rani Lill Anjum is a Research Professor of Philosophy at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.Elena Rocca is Associate Professor at the Department of Life Sciences and Health at Oslo Metropolitan University.

“I must note that most examples in the book come from the life sciences, something that I personally very much appreciated. … This is a very interesting and useful book. I find the focus on and the analysis of implicit biases in science very important and very relevant both for doing science and for science education. This is a book that I believe both scientists and science educators should carefully read and think about.” (Kostas Kampourakis, Science & Education, January 17, 2025)

• Part I: What’s so special about science? Defining science.- 1. What counts as scientific knowledge?.- 2. Should science be defined by its methodology?.- 3. Is science defined by its community?.- 4. Is science defined by power?.- Part II: Why science cannot ignore philosophy; Philosophical bias in science.- 5. Conflicting evidence and the bias that science cannot avoid.- 6. Does science uncover or construct truths?; Bias about observation.- 7. Understanding and analysing complexity; Bias about processes and things.- 8. Scientific methods and causal evidencing; Bias about causality.- 9. Defining and assessing risk; Bias about values and probability.- Part III: What then when experts disagree?; Applying philosophy to scientific controversy.- 10. Philosophical analysis of some cases of disagreement.