A Historical Introduction to the Philosophy of Science, Fourth edition John Losee OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS A Historical Introduction to the Philosophy of Science This page intentionally left blank A Historical Introduction to the Philosophy of Science Fourth edition John Losee Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogotá Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Paris São Paulo Shanghai Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw with associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © John Losee , The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organizations Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available ISBN ––– Typeset in Adobe Minion by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk Printed in Great Britain by Biddles Ltd., Guildford and King’s Lynn Preface This book is a historical sketch of the development of views about scientific method Its emphasis is on developments prior to No attempt has been made to reproduce the contemporary spectrum of positions on the philosophy of science My purpose has been exposition rather than criticism, and I have endeavoured to abstain from passing judgement on the achievements of the great philosophers of science It is my hope that this book may be of interest both to students of the philosophy of science and to students of the history of science If, on reading this book, a few such students are encouraged to consult some of the works listed in the Bibliography at the end of the book, I shall consider my effort to have been well spent I have received numerous helpful suggestions from Gerd Buchdahl, George Clark, and Rom Harré in the preparation of this volume I am most grateful, both for their encouragement, and for their criticism Of course, responsibility for what has emerged is mine alone Lafayette College July Preface to the Second Edition The discussion of post-Second-World-War developments has been reorganized and expanded in the second edition There are new chapters on the Logical Reconstructionism of Carnap, Hempel, and Nagel; the critical reaction to this orientation; and the alternative approaches of Kuhn, Lakatos, and Laudan August Preface to the Third Edition The third edition includes new material on theories of scientific progress, causal explanation, Bayesian confirmation theory, scientific realism, and alternatives to prescriptive philosophy of science September vi prefaces Preface to the Fourth Edition Contributions to the discipline have continued at an accelerated pace since publication of the Third Edition The Fourth Edition incorporates, in Chapters –, recent work on theory-appraisal, experimental practice, theories of explanation, normative naturalism, the debate over scientific realism, and the philosophy of biology Contents Introduction Aristotle’s Philosophy of Science The Pythagorean Orientation 14 The Ideal of Deductive Systematization 20 Atomism and the Concept of Underlying Mechanism 24 Affirmation and Development of Aristotle’s Method in the Medieval Period 26 The Debate over Saving the Appearances 39 The Seventeenth-Century Attack on Aristotelian Philosophy I Galileo II Francis Bacon III Descartes 46 46 54 63 Newton’s Axiomatic Method 72 Analyses of the Implications of the New Science for a Theory of Scientific Method I The Cognitive Status of Scientific Laws II Theories of Scientific Procedure III Structure of Scientific Theories 86 86 103 117 10 Inductivism v the Hypothetico-Deductive View of Science 132 11 Mathematical Positivism and Conventionalism 143 12 Logical Reconstructionist Philosophy of Science 158 13 Orthodoxy under Attack 177 14 Theories of Scientific Progress 197 15 Explanation, Causation, and Unification 210 16 Confirmation, Evidential Support, and Theory Appraisal 220 17 The Justification of Evaluative Standards 236 18 The Debate over Scientific Realism 252 19 Descriptive Philosophies of Science 264 viii contents Select Bibliography 279 Index of Proper Names 305 Index of Subjects 309 Introduction A decision on the scope of the philosophy of science is a precondition for writing about its history Unfortunately, philosophers and scientists are not in agreement on the nature of the philosophy of science Even practising philosophers of science often disagree about the proper subject-matter of their discipline An example of this lack of agreement is the exchange between Stephen Toulmin and Ernest Nagel on whether philosophy of science should be a study of scientific achievement in vivo, or a study of problems of explanation and confirmation as reformulated in the terms of deductive logic.1 To establish a basis for the subsequent historical survey, it will be helpful to sketch four viewpoints on the philosophy of science One view is that the philosophy of science is the formulation of worldviews that are consistent with, and in some sense based on, important scientific theories On this view, it is the task of the philosopher of science to elaborate the broader implications of science This may take the form of speculation about ontological categories to be used in speaking about “beingas-such” Thus Alfred North Whitehead urged that recent developments in physics require that the categories ‘substance’ and ‘attribute’ be replaced by the categories ‘process’ and ‘influence’.2 Or it may take the form of pronouncements about the implications of scientific theories for the evaluation of human behaviour, as in Social Darwinism and the theory of ethical relativity The present study is not concerned with “philosophy of science” in this sense A second view is that the philosophy of science is an exposition of the presuppositions and predispositions of scientists The philosopher of science may point out that scientists presuppose that nature is not capricious, and that there exist in nature regularities of sufficiently low complexity to be accessible to the investigator In addition, he may uncover the preferences of scientists for deterministic rather than statistical laws, or for mechanistic rather than teleological explanations This view tends to assimilate philosophy of science to sociology A third view is that the philosophy of science is a discipline in which the concepts and theories of the sciences are analysed and clarified This is not a matter of giving a semi-popular exposition of the latest theories It is, rather, a select bibliography I Lakatos and A Musgrave (eds.), Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ) —— ‘History of Science and Its Rational Reconstructions’, in Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, viii (Dordrecht: Reidel, ), –; this volume contains criticism of Lakatos’s position by T S Kuhn, H Feigl, R J Hall, and N Koertge, and a reply by Lakatos —— and Musgrave, A (eds.), Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ); includes essays critical of Kuhn’s position by J Watkins, S Toulmin, L P Williams, K Popper, M Masterman, and P Feyerabend, and a reply by Kuhn Laudan, L., Progress and Its Problems (Berkeley), Calif.: University of California Press, ) McMullin, E., ‘The History and Philosophy of Science: A Taxonomy’, in R Stuewer (ed.), Historical and Philosophical Perspectives of Science (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, ), – —— ‘The Fertility of Theory and the Unit of Appraisal in Science’, in Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Sciences, xxxix (Dordrecht: Reidel, ) Musgrave, A., ‘Kuhn’s Second Thoughts’, Brit J Phil Sci (), – Sankey, H., ‘Kuhn’s Changing Concept of Incommensurability’, Brit J Phil Sci (), – Scheffler, I., Science and Subjectivity (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, ); an attack on ‘subjective’ alternatives to orthodoxy Shapere, D., ‘The Structure of Scientific Revolutions’, Phil Rev (), – 15 Explanation, Causation, and Unification Achinstein, P., The Nature of Explanation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, ) Dowe, P., ‘Wesley Salmon’s Process Theory of Causality and the Conserved Quantity Theory’, Phil Sci (), – Glymour, G., ‘Causal Inference and Causal Explanation’, in R McLaughlin (ed.), What? Where? When? Why? (Dordrecht: Reidel, ), – Humphreys, P., ‘Scientific Explanation: The Causes, Some of the Causes, and Nothing But the Causes’, in Kitcher and Salmon (eds.), Scientific Explanation, xiii – Kitcher, P., ‘Explanatory Unification and the Causal Structure of the World’, in Kitcher and Salmon (eds.), Scientific Explanation, xiii – Railton, P., ‘A Deductive–Nomological Model of Probabilistic Explanation’, Phil Sci (), – Salmon, W., ‘Causality: Production and Propagation’, in P D Asquith and R W Giere (eds.), PSA , ii (East Lansing Mich.: Philosophy of Science Association, ), – —— Scientific Explanation and the Causal Structure of the World (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, ) —— ‘Why Ask “Why”? An Inquiry Concerning Scientific Explanation’, Proc Am Phil Soc (), –; per in Kourany (ed.), Scientific Knowledge, (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, ), – select bibliography —— “Four Decades of Scientific Explanation’, in P Kitcher and W Salmon (eds.), Scientific Explanation, Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, xiii (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, ); contains an extensive bibliography Woodward, J., ‘The Causal Mechanical Model of Explanation’, in Kitcher and W Salmon (eds.), Scientific Explanation, xiii – 16 Confirmation, Evidential Support, and Theory Appraisal Achinstein, P., ‘Explanation v Prediction: Which Carries More Weight?’ PSA , (East Lansing: Philosophy of Science Assn., ), – Campbell, R., and Vinci, T., ‘Novel Confirmation’, Brit J Phil Sci (), – Chihara, C., ‘Some Problems for Bayesian Confirmation Theory’, Brit J Phil Sci (), – Earman, J (ed.), Testing Scientific Theories Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, x (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, ); essays by P Horwich, A Edidin, R Laymon, D Garber, et al Garber, D., ‘Old Evidence and Logical Omniscience in Bayesian Confirmation Theory’, in J Earman (ed.), Testing Scientific Theories, (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, ), – Glymour, C., Theory and Evidence (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, ) Horwich, P., ‘An Appraisal of Glymour’s Confirmation Theory’, J Phil (), – Howson, C., and Urbach, P., Scientific Reasoning, The Bayesian Approach (La Salle, Ill.: Open Court, ) Lakatos, I., ‘Changes in the Problem of Inductive Logic’, in Lakatos (ed.), Inductive Logic (Amsterdam: North-Holland, ), – Mayo, D., Error and the Growth of Experimental Knowledge (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, ) McAllister, J Beauty and Revolution in Science (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, ) Miller, R W., Fact and Method (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, ) Musgrave, A., ‘Logical versus Historical Theories of Confirmation’, Brit J Phil Sci (), – Nolan, D., ‘Is Fertility Virtuous In Its Own Right?’ Brit J Phil Sci (), – van Fraassen, B., ‘Theory Comparison and Relevant Evidence’, in Earman (ed.), Testing Scientific Theories (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, ) —— Laws and Symmetry (Oxford: Clarendon Press, ) Zahar, E., ‘Why Did Einstein’s Programme Supercede Lorentz’s?’ Brit J Phil Sci (), – 17 The Justification of Evaluative Standards Brown, J R (ed.), Scientific Rationality: The Sociological Turn (Dordrecht: Reidel, ) Doppelt, G., ‘Relativism and the Reticulational Model of Scientific Rationality’, Synthèse, (), – select bibliography —— ‘The Naturalist Conception of Methodological Standards in Science: A Critique’, Phil Sci (), – Kuhn, T S., ‘Notes on Lakatos’, in R C Buck and R S Cohen (eds.), Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, viii (Dordrecht: Reidel, ), – Laudan, L., Science and Values (Berkeley: University of California Press, ) —— ‘Some Problems Facing Intuitionist Meta-Methodologies’, Synthèse, (), – —— ‘Progress or Rationality? The Prospects for a Normative Naturalism’, Amer Phil Quart (), – —— ‘If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It’, Brit J Phil Sci (), –; a reply to J Worrall’s ‘The Value of a Fixed Methodology’ —— ‘Normative Naturalism’, Phil Sci (), – Leplin, J., ‘Renormalizing Epistemology’, Phil Sci (), – Losee, J., Philosophy of Science and Historical Enquiry (Oxford: Clarendon Press, ) Neurath, O., Otto Neurath: Philosophical Papers, ed R S Cohen and M Neurath (Dordrecht: Reidel, ) Psillos, S., ‘Naturalism Without Truth?’ Stud Hist Phil Sci (), – Quine, W V O., From A Logical Point of View (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, ) Rosenberg, A., ‘Normative Naturalism and the Role of Philosophy’, Phil Sci (), – —— ‘A Field Guide to Recent Species of Naturalism’, Brit J Phil Sci (), – Shapere, D., ‘The Character of Scientific Change’ in T Nickles (ed.), Scientific Discovery, Logic and Rationality (Dordrecht: Reidel, ) —— Reason and the Search for Knowledge (Dordrecht: Reidel, ) Siegel, H., ‘Philosophy of Science Naturalized? Some Problems with Giere’s Naturalism’, Stud Hist Phil Sci (), – —— ‘Instrumental Rationality and Naturalized Philosophy of Science’, Phil Sci , Proceedings (Suppl ) S–S Worrall, J., ‘The Value of a Fixed Methodology’, Brit J Phil Sci (), – —— ‘Fix It and Be Damned: A Reply to Laudan’, Brit J Phil Sci (), – 18 The Debate over Scientific Realism Boyd, R., ‘Scientific Realism and Naturalistic Epistemology’, in P.D Asquith and R N Giere (eds.), PSA , ii (East Lansing, Mich.: Philosophy of Science Association, ), – Carrier, M., ‘What Is Wrong with the Miracle Argument?’ Stud Hist Phil Sci (), – Cartwright, N., How the Laws of Physics Lie (Oxford: Oxford University Press, ) Churchland, P M., and Hooker, C A (eds.), Images of Science (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, ); essays on van Fraassen’s ‘Constructive Empiricism’, by C Glymour, I Hacking, A Musgrave, et al Clendinnen, C J., ‘Realism and the Underdetermination of Theory’, Synthèse, (), – select bibliography Fine, A., The Shaky Game (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, ), chs – Hacking, I., Representing and Intervening (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ) Harré, R., Varieties of Realism (Oxford: Blackwell, ) Kukla, A., ‘Scientific Realism, Scientific Practice, and the Natural Ontological Attitude’, Brit J Phil Sci (), – —— ‘AntiRealist Explanations of the Success of Science’, Phil Sci Proceedings (Suppl ), S–S Laudan, L., ‘A Confutation of Convergent Realism’, Phil Sci (), repr in J Leplin (ed.), Scientific Realism, – Leplin, J (ed.), Scientific Realism (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, ); essays by R Boyd, A Fine, C Glymour, L Laudan, B van Fraassen, et al McMichael, A ‘Van Fraassen’s Instrumentalism’, Brit J Phil Sci (), – Musgrave, A., ‘The Ultimate Argument for Scientific Realism’, in R Nola (ed.), Relativism and Realism in Science (Dordrecht: Kluwer, ), – Reiner, R and Pierson, R., ‘Hacking’s Experimental Realism: An Untenable Middle Ground’, Phil Sci (), – Rouse, J., ‘Arguing for the Natural Ontological Attitude’ (East Lansing, Mich.: Philosophy of Science Association, ), – Smith, P., Realism and the Progress of Science (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ) Sober, E., ‘Constructive Empiricism and the Problem of Aboutness’, Brit J Phil Sci., (), – —— ‘Contrastive Empiricism’ in C W Savage (ed.), Scientific Theories, Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, xiv (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, ), – van Fraassen, B., The Scientific Image (Oxford: Clarendon Press, ) Worrall, J., ‘Structural Realism: The Best of Both Worlds?’ Dialectica, (), – Wylie, A., ‘Arguments for Scientific Realism: The Ascending Spiral’, Am Phil Quart (), – 19 Descriptive Philosophies of Science Cohen, L J., ‘Is the Progress of Science Evolutionary?’ Brit J Phil Sci (), – Gooding, D., Pinch, T., and Schaffer, S (eds.), The Uses of Experiment (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ) Holton, G., The Scientific Imagination (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ) —— ‘Do Scientists Need a Philosophy?’ Times Literary Supplement, Nov , – —— Thematic Origins of Scientific Thought, rev edn (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, ) Hull, D L., The Metaphysics of Evolution (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, ) —— Science as a Process (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, ) Ruse, M., Evolutionary Naturalism (London: Routledge, ) select bibliography —— Taking Darwin Seriously (Oxford: Blackwell, ) Toulmin, S., Human Understanding, i (Oxford: Clarendon Press, ) —— ‘Rationality and Scientific Discovery’, in R S Cohen and M Wartofsky (eds.), Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, (Dordrecht: Reidel, ), – Index of Proper Names Entries in lists of notes are indexed in italics Achinstein, Peter , , , Adams, J C Agassi, Joseph , d’Alembert, Jean Ampère, André , Apollonius of Perga n Arago, Franỗois Archimedes: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter ; , , , , Aristotle: biography ; bibliography, ; chapter ; , , –, , , , , , , , –, –, , , , , , –, , –, , , Autrecourt, Nicolaus see Nicolaus of Autrecourt Avogadro, Amadeo Bacon, Francis: biography, –; bibliography, ; chapter , part II; , , , , , , , , Bacon, Nicholas Bacon, Roger: biography, –; bibliography, ; chapter ; , , , , Barberini, Maffeo (Pope Urban VIII) , Barnes, Barry Bayes, Thomas n., Beatty, John , Beeckman, Isaac Bellarmine, Robert (Cardinal) Berkeley, George: biography, ; bibliography, ; ; chapter Bloor, David , Bode, Johann – Bohr, Niels , , , , , , , , , , Boltzmann, Ludwig Bolyai, Janos , Boscovich, Roger Boyd, Richard: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter Boyle, Robert , , , , , Brahe, Tycho , , , Braithwaite, R B –, , Brandon, Robert –, Bridgman, P W.: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter ; , Bromberger, Sylvan Brown, James R Brush, Stephen , n., Buchdahl, Gerd , , , , –, Burchfield, Joe Buridan, John , , Campbell, Norman: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter , part III; , , n., , Cannizzaro, Stanisleo , Carnap, Rudolf , , , , Carrier, Martin –, Cartwright, Nancy , n., , , , Cecil, William (Lord Burghley) Chakravartty, Anjan , Charles, Jacques , , Chomsky, Naom Christina, Queen of Sweden Clausius, Rudolf Clavius, Christopher Clement IV (Pope) Cohen, I B , , n., , , Cohen, L J , Collins, H M Copernicus, Nicolaus: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter ; , n., , – Coulomb, Charles , Crombie, A C Darwin, Charles , , , , , Democritus: , chapter DeRegt, Henk , Descartes, René: biography, –; bibliography, ; ; chapter , part III; , , , , , , Dicks, D R , Dijksterhuis, E J , Doppelt, Gerald , Dowe, Phil –, Drake, Stillman , Dray, William n., Duhem, Pierre: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter , part III; –, –, –, , , , , index of proper names Duns Scotus, John: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter ; Eddington, A S Einstein, Albert , , , , , , , –, , , , , –, , , , Elizabeth I, Queen of England Euclid: biography, ; bibliography, ; ; chapter ; , , , , Faraday, Michael , , Farrington, Benjamin , Feigl, Herbert biography, –; bibliography, ; ; chapter ; Feyerabend, Paul: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter ; , , Fine, Arthur: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter ; n Fisher, R A Forge, John Foucault, Léon , – Frank, Philipp , Franklin, Alan , n., Franklin, Benjamin n Friend, John Fresnel, Augustin , Galilei, Galileo: biography, –; bibliography, ; , , , , ; chapter , part I; , , , n., , , , , , , , , , , , , –, , , n., , n., , , , n., –, Galison, Peter – Galle, Johann Garber, Daniel –, Gardner, Michael n., Gassendi, Pierre Gauss, C F Gay-Lussac, J L Geminus of Rhodes , Ghiselin, Michael , Giere, Ronald , Glymour, Clark: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter Gooding, David Goodman, Nelson: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter ; , , , , Gorovitz, S n Gould, Stephen , Graham, Thomas , , Grosseteste, Robert: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter ; , , , , Guerlac, Henry Guyton de Morveau, L B Hacking, Ian: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter ; Hamilton, William Hanson, N R , , , , Harré, Rom: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter , part III; –, , , Hartley, David n Harvey, William , , Hawk, O Heath, Thomas , Hegel, G W F Heisenberg, Werner , Helmholtz, Hermann von , Hempel, Carl: biography, ; bibliography, ; –, , , , , ; chapter ; –, , Herodotus – Herschel, John: biography, ; bibliography, ; , , ; chapter , part II; , , , – Herschel, William , Hesse, Mary: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter , part III Hilbert, David , Holton, Gerald: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter Hooke, Robert Howson, Colin n., , Hull, David: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter Hume, David: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter , part I; , , , –, Huyghens, Christiaan , , James I, King of England Jevons, W S.: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter Kant, Immanuel: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter , part I; , , Kelvin, Lord, see William Thomson Kepler, Johannes: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter ; , , , , n., , , , , , , , , n Kirchhoff, Gustav index of proper names Kirk, G S Kitcher, Philip: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter Koertge, Noretta , Koyré, Alexandre Kuhn, Thomas S.: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter ; , –, –, , –, , , , , , , Ladyman, James , Lagrange, J L Lakatos, Imre: biography, ; bibliography, , ; chapter ; –, , , –, , , , , , , , Laplace, P S , , Latour, Bruno Laudan, Larry: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter ; –, , –, , , , Lavoisier, Antoine , , Laymon, Ronald n., Leibniz, G W.: biography, –; bibliography, ; ; chapter , part I; Lemery, Nicholas Leplin, Jarrett , Lesage, G L n Leucippus , Leverrier, U J J Lobachevsky, N I , Locke, John: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter , part I Lorentz, Hendrik – Lugg, Andrew Lyell, Charles Lynx, O Mach, Ernst: biography, ; bibliography, ; , ; chapter ; , Madden, Edward , Maestlin, Michael Maher, Patrick , Malebranche, Nicolas Malpighi, Marcello Marx, Karl Matthew, Patrick Maupertuis, Pierre n Maxwell, J C , , , , n., Maxwell, Nicholas –, McAllister, James –, McMullin, Ernan , , Mendeleeff, Dmitri Meyerson, Émile: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter , part II Michelson, Albert –, , Mill, James Mill, John Stuart: biography, ; bibliography, ; , , , n., ; chapter ; Miller, David , Miller, Richard W , Millikan, R A Morley, Edward –, , Mossotti, O F Musgrave, Alan , Nagel, Ernest: biography, –; bibliography, ; , ; chapter ; , , Neumann, John von Neurath, Otto –, , Newton, Isaac: biography, –; bibliography, ; , ; chapter ; , , , –, , , , , , , , , , –, , –, , , , –, , , , , , , , , , , , , Nicod, Jean , , Nicolaus of Autrecourt: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter Ockham, William: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter ; , , O’Hear, Anthony , , Ohm, Georg , Oppenheim, Paul , , Orèsme, Nicole Osiander, Andreas Pardies, Ignatius , Pascal, Blaise Pauli, Wolfgang Peano, Giuseppe Perrin, Jean , Petrus of Maricourt Pickering, Andy , Pinch, Trevor Planck, Max , Plato: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter ; , , , , Poincaré, Henri biography, –; bibliography, ; chapter ; Poincaré, Raymond Popper, Karl: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter ; , n., , , , n., , , , Proclus , index of proper names Prout, William Psillos, Stathis –, Ptolemy, Claudius : biography, ; chapter ; , Putnam, Hilary , , , Pythagoras Quine, W V O –, , , Railton, Peter : biography, ; chapter Ramus, Petrus n Raven, J E Reichenbach, Hans , , , , Riemann, Bernhard , Ronchi, Vasco Rossi, Paolo Ruse, Michael , , –, Russell, Bertrand Rutherford, Ernest , , Ryle, Gilbert , Salmon, Wesley: biography, ; bibliography, ; , , ; chapter ; Schaffer, Simon Scheffler, Israel –, Schlick, Moritz , Schrödinger, Erwin , Scotus, John Duns, see Duns Scotus, John Scriven, Michael n., –, Sellars, Wilfrid , Shapere, Dudley –, , , Shapin, Stevin , Simplicius Smart, J J C –, Sober, Elliott –, , , , , Suppe, Frederick –, Thackray, Arnold n Theodoric of Freiberg – Thomson, J J Thomson, William (Lord Kelvin) , Tichy, Pavel , Titius, Johann Toulmin, Stephen: biography, ; bibliography, ; , , ; chapter ; , –, , Tyrtaeus Urban VIII, see Barberini, Maffeo Urbach, Peter n., , van der Waals, Johannes –, van Fraassen, Bas: biography, ; bibliography, ; chapter von Neumann, John, see Neumann, John von Wallace, H R Watkins, John , Weinberg, Julius Weinberg, Stephen Whewell, William: biography, ; bibliography, ; , , n.; chapter , part III; , , , , –, , , , , Whitehead, A N , William of Ockham, see Ockham, William Williams, R G n Wittgenstein, Ludwig , Woolgar, Steve Worrall, John –, , –, Yolton, John , Young, Thomas , Zaffron, Richard n., Zahar, Elie –, n., Index of Subjects absolute space –, –, , –, –, , absolute time –, –, , abstraction , , , –, , acceptability, criteria of –, –, –, , , , , –, – accidental generalizations, see causal relations; nomological universals adaptation –, ad hoc interpretations , –, , –, , , , , , aesthetic standards – agreement, method of, see induction agreement with observations, criterion of , , –, –, –, , – alchemy , Almagest , ‘analogies of experience’ analogy –, –, –, –, – analysis and synthesis –, , see also resolution and composition anomalies , –, , –, antecedent conditions –, –, –, –, – ‘aptitudinal union’ of phenomena , , , Aristotelianism, false –, atomic theory of matter ; chapter ; , , –, –, , , , , auxiliary hypotheses –, , –, –, , Avogadro’s number axiomatic method –; chapter , part III axioms, status of , –, , –, , –, –, – axiological claims – basic statements Bayesian theory – Bergmann’s principle blood, circulation of , Bode’s Law – Bohr theory of the atom , , bootstrapping, see confirmation boundary conditions –, Boyle’s Law –, , , , , , , Brownian motion bucket experiment (Newton) –, buoyancy, law of – caloric , , cartography and scientific theories Carnot’s principle, see Second Law of Thermodynamics causal relations , –, –, –, –; chapter v accidental relations –, –, –, –, – causation: principle of universal , – multiple – cause: Aristotle’s four – composition of – final , , plurality of – ‘true’ – ceteris paribus clauses Chinese-box view of scientific progress , – see also growth by incorporation circulation, see blood, circulation of clarity, criterion of , classical mechanics, see Newtonian mechanics classification , cogito, ergo sum coherence colours, theories of , –, –, –, common cause, principle of composition: method of , –, – of causes, see cause conceptual integration , , , see also unification concomitant variations, see induction conditions, see antecedent conditions; boundary conditions; initial conditions confirmation , –, –, , bootstrapping – congruence, operation of establishing conjunctive fork – connectability, criterion of , conservation laws –, – of motion – of substance –, of vis viva index of subjects consilience of inductions –, , see also inductive tables consistency , , , constructive empiricism – contextual definition, see definition, operational continuity, principle of –, , contraction hypothesis (Lorentz) – contrary-to-fact conditionals , , conventionalism , , –, Correspondence Principle , n., , , correspondence, rules of –, –, , –, , – see also theories; ‘Dictionaries’ corroboration – covering-law view of scientific explanation –, , –, criteria, see acceptability; agreement with observations; clarity; conceptual integration; consilience; demarcation; demonstrative; distinctness; economy; falsifiability; fertility; heuristic value; parsimony; recognitive criteria; simplicity; verifiability Critique of Judgement Critique of Pure Reason , crucial experiments , –, – deduction , –; chapter ; , –, – see also composition, method of deductive pattern of explanation, see explanation, deductive pattern of deductive system, ideal of chapter ; , , – definition , , , –, degenerating research programmes, see research programmes, degenerating demarcation of science from other types of inquiry –, , –, – demonstrative criteria De motu , De revolutionibus , derivability, criterion of , – descriptive philosophy of science; chapter Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems , Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences , ‘Dictionaries’ –, difference, method of, see induction disciplinary matrix, see paradigm disconfirmation – Discourse on Method , discovery, context of –, –, –, , distinctness, criterion of – doubt, systematic Duhem-Quine thesis – eccentric economy of representation , see also Ockham’s ‘razor’; simplicity electromagnetic theory , , Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding n., , entrenched predicates entropy, see Second Law of Thermodynamics epicycle –, epigenetic rules – equivalence condition – essence: nominal real essential correlations –, see also causal v accidental relations ether theory , , evolution, theory of organic –, , –, , , –, –, – evolutionary-analogy view of science –, evolutionary-origins view of science – excluded middle, principle of , exclusion: method of – principle (Pauli) exemplar, see paradigm exhaustion, method of n existential hypotheses, see hypotheses, existential experimental confirmation –, –, –, –, , , –, , – see also crucial experiments explanation –, –, , ; chapter deductive pattern of –, –, , , inductive pattern of , –, see also covering-law view extension – external history of science , – extremum principles – facts –, – colligation of – decomposition of – falling bodies, law of , –, , , , , , , index of subjects falsifiability –, –, – falsification –, , –, –, fertility , , , , , –, fingerpost, instances of , – see also crucial experiments ‘first prerogative of experimental science’, – fitness , –, – fluids, dynamics of force , –, , , , , , , –, , form v matter , –, – ‘forms’ (Baconian) – ‘of the sensibility’, see sensibility, forms of Foundations of Science Fourier’s theory of heat conduction generalization, hasty geometry, analytic , Euclidean; chapter ; –, , –, non-Euclidean –, gestalt-shift , –, Goodman’s ‘New Riddle of Induction’ –, , , growth by incorporation –, –, –, ‘grue’ –, , , n., , , harmony of the spheres heuristic value historical relativism, see relativism, historical history of science: as source of philosophy of science – as warrant of philosophy of science –, , –, –, – hypotheses –, , , , , –, – existential – Hypotheses planetarum hypothetico-deductive method chapter ; –, – Ideal Gas Law , , , , , n idealization , , , – ideals of natural order ideas –, – explication of –, – innate –, ‘relations of’ –, identity, principle of , , – indicator laws idols , impact , , incommensurability of theories –, , – incorporation , –, –, , indirect evidence induction –, , ; chapter agreement –, , , , – concomitant variations , difference –, , , –, – intuitive insight , , , justification of – residues simple enumeration , , , , see also analysis, consilience, resolution inductive pattern of explanation, see explanation, inductive pattern of inductive tables – see also consilience inductivism , , , ; chapter ; inertial motion , , , , , , –, infinite series initial conditions – instance confirmation, principle of –, instrumentalism –, –, –, interactive fork – internal history of science , – isochrony of pendulums, see pendulums, isochrony of isolated systems , – justification, context of , –, , –, ; chapter hierarchical model –, reticulational model – Kepler’s Laws , , , , , , , n., , , Kinetic theory of gases , , , –, , , , , language levels in science – observational level , –, –, , –, theoretical level – lawlike universals, see nomological universals laws of nature –, –, –, –, , –, , equilibrium laws least action, principle of n lever – logical reconstructionism chapters , ; –, , , index of subjects ‘manifest qualities’ , materialism – ‘mathematical theories’, see theories mathematical truth v physical truth Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy , , , , , , , matter, see form ‘matters of fact’ , , means-end correlations , – measurement –, –, –, , – ‘mechanical theories’, see theories mechanics, Newtonian, see Newtonian mechanics mechanisms, underlying –, mechanistic philosophy , –, Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science Michelson-Morley experiment –, micro-community – models , –, –, see also analogies modus tollens arguments – multiple causation, see causation Mysterium Cosmographicum ‘natural motions’ , – natural ontological attitude (NOA) –, , n ‘natural places’ , – natural selection , , , , –, naturalism, normative – necessary connection –, –, ; chapter necessary truth –, –, –, –, , , , –, , negative heuristic, see research programmes Neptune, discovery of neutrino , , , Newtonian mechanics; chapter ; , –, , , , –, –, –, –, –, , –, , , , –, , , , , , Nicod’s criterion, see instance confirmation ‘no miracle’ argument , – nomological universals v accidental universals –, – see also vacuously true laws non-contradiction, principle of , – normal science –, – see also revolutionary science novel facts – Novum Organum , observation reports , –, –, , –, , observational level of scientific language, see language levels Ockham’s ‘razor’ , see also economy of representation Ohm’s Law –, , omnipotence, divine , , operational definition, see definition operationalism – operations, unanalyzed – Opticks , ‘paper and pencil’ operations – paradigm – disciplinary matrix –, – exemplar – parsimony, principle of , , pendulums, isochrony of –, pessimistic meta-induction – phenomenal realm v ideal realm –, –, –, –, phenomenalism – philosophes philosophy of science as second-order criteriology – distinguished from science related to history of science, see history of science phlogiston –, , n., n., ‘physical truth’ see ‘mathematical truth’ v ‘physical truth’ picture preference, see ad hoc interpretation positivism – Posterior Analytics n., predication, scope of , prediction , , –, –, predictivist thesis predispositions of scientists – preferred intuitions about scientific rationality – Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy , presuppositions of scientists –, – primary experimental data – primary qualities , –, , , Principia, see Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy prior evidence – problem-shift, see research programmes Progress and Its Problems , projectability protocol sentences index of subjects Prout’s hypothesis ‘purposiveness of nature’ – Pythagorean orientation ; chapter ; –, –, , , qualities, see manifest qualities; primary qualities quantum mechanics , , –, , , , quarks , , rainbow, explanation of – rational reconstructions of scientific progress chapters , raven paradox –, realism ; chapter convergent , n entity – structural – truth –, reason –, recognitive criteria reduction of theories –, – refutation, see disconfirmation regular solids , – regulative principles –, , –, ‘relations of ideas’, see ideas relativism, historial relativity, theory of general , –, , , special , , , , , , , , Republic research programmes –, –, progressive v degenerating problem shifts – negative heuristic positive heurisitic – residues, method of, see induction resolution, method of –, –, , – see also analysis; induction revolutionary science , –, –, – see also normal science rules of correspondence, see correspondence, rules of safety-net image of theories, see theories saving the appearances –, –; chapter Science and Values , scope of predication, see predication, scope of Second Law of Thermodynamics ‘Second Prerogative of Experimental Science’ –, semantical rules, see correspondence, rules of ‘sensibility, forms of the’ – ‘sensible measures’ of absolute space and time –, similarity relations – ‘simple natures’ – simplicity, criterion of , , , , , , –, , see also economy; Ockham’s ‘razor’; parsimony simultaneity , – Snel’s Law , , social Darwinism sociology , , statistical relevance Steno’s principle of original horizontality Strong Programme – Structure of Scientific Revolutions, The , , , , supervenient properties – syllogism –, , , – symmetry , – taxonomy , –, teleological interpretations , , –, see also cause, final tests –, n., thematic principles – theoretical level of scientific language, see language levels theories, structures of –; chapter , part III; , –, – ‘mathematical v mechanical’ , – ‘safety-net’ image –, , see also correspondence, rules of; ‘Dictionaries’ tides, theory of , , Timaeus , touchstone hypotheses transformation rules Treatise of Human Nature, A n., tributary-river analogy –, , unanalyzed operations, see operations underlying mechanisms, see mechanisms, underlying understanding, categories of the – undesigned scope , –, unification, comparative – index of subjects Uranus, discovery of , vacuously true laws , , verification verisimilitude virial expansion , n vis viva, see conservation laws vortex theory of planetary motions , , wave theory of light , –, , –, – Wilson cloud chamber ... Ibid.b– a Ibid. a –b 2 The Pythagorean Orientation The Pythagorean View of Nature 14 Plato and the Pythagorean Orientation 15 The Tradition of “Saving the Appearances” Ptolemy on Mathematical... form Matter is what makes the particular a unique individual, and form is what makes the particular a member of a class of similar things To specify the form of a particular is to specify the properties... study at Plato’s Academy He was associated with the Academy for a period of twenty years Upon Plato’s death in 347 bc, and the subsequent election of the mathematically-oriented Speucippus to head