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Incommensurability and Related Matters draws together some of the most distinguished contributors to the critical literature on the problem of the incommensurability of scientific theories. It addresses all the various problems raised by the problem of incommensurability, such as meaning change, reference of theoretical terms, scientific realism and anti-realism, rationality of theory choice, cognitive aspects of conceptual change, as well as exploring the broader implications of incommensurability for cultural difference. While it offers new work, and new directions of discussion, on the topic of incommensurability, the book also recapitulates the history of the discussion of the topic that has taken place within the literature on incommensurability.
List of contents
Reference, (In)commensurability and Meanings: Some (Perhaps) Unanticipated Complexities.- Changing Laws and Shifting Concepts: On the Nature and Impact of Incommensurability.- Ramsification, Reference Fixing and Incommensurability.- Incommensurability and Reality.- Incommensurability and the Priority of Metaphysics.- Incommensurability and the Normative Foundations of Scientific Knowledge.- Reasons, Radical Change and Incommensurability in Science.- Incommensurability, Rationality and Relativism: In Science, Culture and Science Education.- Incommensurability and 'Multicultural Science'.- Incommensurability and Conceptual Change During the Copernican Revolution.- Concept Formation and Commensurability.- Incommensurability Bibliography.- Notes on Contributors.- Index of Names.
Summary
Incommensurability and Related Matters
draws together some of the most distinguished contributors to the critical literature on the problem of the incommensurability of scientific theories. It addresses all the various problems raised by the problem of incommensurability, such as meaning change, reference of theoretical terms, scientific realism and anti-realism, rationality of theory choice, cognitive aspects of conceptual change, as well as exploring the broader implications of incommensurability for cultural difference. While it offers new work, and new directions of discussion, on the topic of incommensurability, the book also recapitulates the history of the discussion of the topic that has taken place within the literature on incommensurability.
