501 HAC Hacking, Ian. Representing and Intervening : Introductory Topics in the Philosophy of Natural Science / I. Hacking. - Cambridge ; New York ; Melbourne : Cambridge University Press, 1983. - 287 p. - Bibliography : p. 276 - 282. - ISBN 978-0-521-28246-8. - Текст : непосредственный. Index : p. 283 - 287
Rationality : introduction Representing : part A What is scientific realism? Building and causing Positivism Pragmatism Incommensurability Reference Internal realism A surrogate for truth Break : Reals and representations Intervening : part B Experiment Observation Microscopes Speculation, calculation, models, approximations The creation of phenomena Measurement Baconian topics Experimentation and scientific realism
This is a lively and clearly written introduction to the philosophy of natural science, organized around the central theme of scientific realism. It has two parts. Representing deals with the different philosophical accounts of scientific objectivity and the reality of scientific entities. The views of Kuhn, Feyerabend, Lakatos, Putnam, van Fraassen, and others, are all considered. Intervening presents the first sustained treatment of experimental science for many years and uses it to give a new direction to debates about realism. Flacking illustrates how experimentation often has a life independent of theory. He argues that although the philosophical problems of scientific realism can not be resolved when put in terms of theory alone, a sound philosophy of experiment provides compelling grounds for a realistic attitude. A great many scientific examples are described in both parts of the book, which also includes lucid expositions of recent high energy physics and a remarkable chapter on the microscope in cell biology
