Philosophy of science Books

This book critically examines the recent discussions of powers and powers-based accounts of causation. The author then develops an original view of powers-based causation that aims to be compatible with the theories and findings of natural science...

A classic book about life in a two-dimensional universe, written by a well-known author. Now brought back into print in this revised and updated edition, the book is written within the great tradition of Abbott's Flatland, and...

This book is a tour-de-force on how human consciousness may have evolved. From the "phantom pain" experienced by people who have lost their limbs to the uncanny faculty of "blindsight," Humphrey argues that raw sensations are...

For decades, experts and the public have been at odds over the nature and magnitude of risks and how they should be mitigated through policy. Experts argue that the fears of the public are irrational, and that public policy should be based on sound...

This book analyses and compares the origins, evolutionary patterns and consequences of different science and technology controversies in China, including hydropower resistance, disputes surrounding genetically modified organisms and the nuclear power...

More than one hundred of the world's leading thinkers write about things they believe in, despite the absence of concrete proofScientific theory, more often than not, is born of bold assumption, disparate bits of unconnected evidence, and educated leaps...

In Skeptical Environmentalism, Robert Kirkman raises doubts about the speculative tendencies elaborated in environmental ethics, deep ecology, social ecology, postmodern ecology, ecofeminism, and environmental pragmatism. Drawing on skeptical principles...

The original book, written long ago, existed, but its sight is hidden from the searcher and the thinker. - The Maya Popol VuhOver the last half century, an abundance of evidence has been put forward to indicate a highly advanced civilization once...

Invoking the unity of the imagination to restore the wholeness of our lives, Science and Poetry is a tour de force of passionate but clear-headed thinking about science and ourselves.

Have you ever wondered why cancer remains such a dreadful illness? Why is it so common? How can you reduce your cancer risk? Why is screening not better at finding cancers early? How does cancer make people feel so sick?How do different types of...

In this original and compelling book, Jeffrey P. Bishop, a philosopher, ethicist, and physician, argues that something has gone sadly amiss in the care of the dying by contemporary medicine and in our social and political views of death, as shaped by our...

Arguing About Science is an outstanding, engaging introduction to the essential topics in philosophy of science, edited by two leading experts in the field. This exciting and innovative anthology contains a selection of classic and contemporary readings...

This volume focuses on the abuse of statistical inference in scientific and statistical literature, as well as in a variety of other sources, presenting examples of misused statistics to show that many scientists and statisticians are unaware of, or...

Ron Mallon explores how thinking and talking about kinds of person can bring those kinds into being. Social constructionist explanations of human kinds like race, gender, and homosexuality are commonplace in the social sciences and humanities, but what...

Explores the question of what is life, and how invocations of life itself can join and divide, horrify and amaze, and may have the potential to inspire a future politics in a world beset by crises.

Numerous criminologists have noted their dissatisfaction with the state of criminology. The need for a new paradigm for the 21st century is clear. However, many distrust biology as a factor in studies of criminal behavior, whether because of limited...

First published in 1925, Bertrand Russell's ABC of Relativity was considered a masterwork of its time, contributing significantly to the mass popularisation of science. Authoritative and accessible, it provides a remarkable introductory guide to...

This book explores the intertwining of politics and ontology, shedding light on the ways in which, as our ability to investigate, regulate, appropriate, 'enhance' and destroy material reality have developed, so new social scientific accounts of nature...

Have you ever wondered where humanity is headed and worried deeply about it? We believe there are so many problems that need fixing before we are able to say we look forward to tomorrow. We feel there is something deeply wrong with the world. There is a...

This book is the first systematic treatment of the philosophy of science underlying evolutionary economics. It does not advocate an evolutionary approach towards economics, but rather assesses the epistemic value of appealing to evolutionary biology in...

What counts as an individual in the living world? What does it mean for a living thing to remain the same through time, while constantly changing? These questions are the province of immunology, one of the most dynamic fields in biology. Immunology...

The concept of emergence has seen a significant resurgence in philosophy and the sciences, yet debates regarding emergentist and reductionist visions of the natural world continue to be hampered by imprecision or ambiguity. Emergent phenomena are said to...

Was God merely reprimanding Job for his presumption? Or was God also issuing an invitation to explore? The author shows how religious experience can illuminate our understanding of physics of light and how, in that light, we can see what modern physics...

Johannes Kepler's discovery of the basic quantitative laws that describe planetary motion placed the heliocentric cosmology of Copernicus on a sound mathematic basis and proved the way for Newton's work in the next century. In this balanced, clearly...

Roughly, instrumentalism is the view that science is primarily, and should primarily be, an instrument for furthering our practical ends. It has fallen out of favour because historically influential variants of the view, such as logical positivism,...

I have been observing the Earth since mankind first walked erect and used its first weapon. I am not human and do not take a human form. Eons ago, in Earth time, my species left behind our corporeal form and freed ourselves to roam the universe. I was...

Should alternatives to evolution be taught in American public schools or rejected as an establishment of religion? Democracy, Intelligent Design, and Evolution argues that accurate science education helps shape a democratic temperament. Rather than...

This is a book written by scholars for scholars, but with a broad appeal to the intelligent lay person. It represents the results of the meeting of 21 eminent researchers at the Papal Residence at Castel Gandolfo to explore topics of common interest for...

Social scientists are often vexed because their work does not satisfy the criteria of "scientific" methodology developed by philosophers of science and logicians who use the natural sciences as their model. In this study, Paul Diesing defines science not...

Dramatic and controversial changes in the funding of science over the past two decades, towards its increasing commercialization, have stimulated a huge literature trying to set out an "economics of science". Whether broadly in favour or against these...