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Any serious student attempting to better understand the nature, methods, and justification of science will value Alex Rosenberg and Lee McIntyre's updated and substantially revised fourth edition of Philosophy of Science: A Contemporary Introduction. Weaving lucid explanations with clear analyses, the volume is a much- used, thematically oriented introduction to the field.
The fourth edition has been thoroughly rewritten based on instructor and student feedback, to improve readability and accessibility, without sacrificing depth. It retains, however, all of the logically structured, extensive coverage of earlier editions, which a review in the journal Teaching Philosophy called "the industry standard" and "essential reading."
Key Features of the Fourth Edition:
- Revised and rewritten for readability based on feedback from student and instructor surveys.
- Updated text on the problem of underdetermination, social science, and the realism/antirealism debate.
- Improved continuity between chapters.
- Revised and updated Study Questions and annotated Suggested Readings at the end of each chapter.
- Updated Bibliography.
For a list of relevant online primary sources, please visit: www.routledge.com/9781138331518.
List of contents
1. The Relationship Between Philosophy and Science 2. Why is Philosophy of Science Important? 3. Scientific Explanation 4. Why Do Laws Explain? 5. Causation, Inexact Laws and Statistical Probabilities 6. Laws and Explanations in Biology and the "Special Sciences" 7. The Structure of Scientific Theories 8. Epistemic and Metaphysical Issues about Scientific Theories 9. Theory Construction vs. Model Building 10. Induction and Probability 11. Confirmation, Falsification, Underdetermination 12. Challenges from the History of Science 13. Naturalism in the Philosophy of Science 14. The Contested Character of Science 15. Science, Relativism and Objectivity
About the author
Alex Rosenberg is R. Taylor Cole Professor and Chair in the Philosophy Department at Duke University. He is also co- director of Duke's Center for Philosophy of Biology. Rosenberg has held fellowships from the National Science Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. In 1993, Rosenberg received the Lakatos Award in the philosophy of science.
Lee McIntyre is a Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University. He is the author of
Respecting Truth (2015);
Post- Truth (2018); and
The Scientific Attitude (2019)
Summary
Any serious student attempting to better understand the nature, methods, and justification of science will value this book. The new edition has been thoroughly rewritten based on instructor and student feedback, to improve readability and accessibility, without sacrificing depth.
Report
"Sets the industry standard. This book is essential reading for any serious student of the philosophy of science. [...]Rosenberg provides a comprehensive, sophisticated presentation of the current state of the field, and yet it is clear enough to be accessible to students. Rosenberg's text gets my highest recommendation for courses with students who are academically well prepared and motivated."
W. Russ Payne, in Teaching Philosophy
