J.H. Fetzer

Scientific Knowledge

Causation, Explanation, and Corroboration

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

With this defense of intensional realism as a philosophical foundation for understanding scientific procedures and grounding scientific knowledge, James Fetzer provides a systematic alternative to much of recent work on scientific theory. To Fetzer, the current state of understanding the 'laws' of nature, or the 'law-like' statements of scientific theories, appears to be one of philosophical defeat; and he is determined to overcome that defeat. Based upon his incisive advocacy of the single-case propensity interpretation of probability, Fetzer develops a coherent structure within which the central problems of the philosophy of science find their solutions. Whether the reader accepts the author's contentions may, in the end, depend upon ancient choices in the interpretation of experience and explanation, but there can be little doubt of Fetzer's spirited competence in arguing for setting ontology before epistemology, and within the analysis of language. To us, Fetzer's ambition isappealing, fusing, as he says, the substantive commitment of the Popperian with the conscientious sensitivity of the Hempelian to the technical precision required for justified explication. To Fetzer, science is the objective pursuit of fallible general knowledge. This innocent character ization, which we suppose most scientists would welcome, receives a most careful elaboration in this book; it will demand equally careful critical con sideration. Center for the Philosophy and ROBERT S. COHEN History of Science, MARX W. WARTOFSKY Boston University October 1981 v TABLE OF CONTENTS EDITORIAL PREFACE v FOREWORD xi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xv PART I: CAUSATION 1.

Produktdetails

• Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science 69
• Verlag: Springer / Springer Netherlands
• Artikelnr. des Verlages: 978-90-277-1335-3
• 1981.
• Seitenzahl: 348
• Erscheinungstermin: 31. Dezember 1981
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 241mm x 160mm x 24mm
• Gewicht: 649g
• ISBN-13: 9789027713353
• ISBN-10: 9027713359
• Artikelnr.: 21802573

Inhaltsangabe

I: Causation.- 1. The Knowledge Context Kzt.- 2. The Language Framework:L or L??.- 3. Syntax. Semantics, and Ontology.- II: Explanation.- 4. Statistical Explanation and Statistical Relevance.- 5. A Single Case Theory of Causal Explanation.- 6. The Dispositional Construction of Theories.- III: Corroboration.- 7. The Justification of Induction.- 8. Confirmation and Corroboration.- 9. Acceptance and Rejection Rules.- 10. Rationality and Fallibility.- References.- Index of Names.- Index of Subjects.

Rezensionen

`...an outstanding success within its genre ... no other approach is currently better positioned to attain Al's theoretical goals, to support its technological aims, or to secure its thorough justification as a genuine science.'
Al Magazine

`...an outstanding success within its genre ... no other approach is currently better positioned to attain Al's theoretical goals, to support its technological aims, or to secure its thorough justification as a genuine science.'
Al Magazine