Bøger i Routledge Library Editions: History & Philosophy of Science serien

This volume explores some features of modern philosophy of science from the point of view of their utility for sociology's self-understanding. The author proposes a schematic outline of the structure of inquiry, paying detailed attention to questions about the nature of theory, explanation and demonstration.

Offers an interpretation that portrays science and religion in their actualities as personal, communal and cultural phenomena involving different concerns, conceptions and modes of inquiry.

Learned societies, such as the Royal Society of London and the Dublin Philosophical Society were a central feature of the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. This title shows that a study of the work and membership of these groups is essential before any realistic assessment can be made of the scientific world at this time.

Covers six eminent British scientists whose work and personality have not receded into the same depth of perspective as their predecessors of the Nineteenth Century, but the tremendous changes following the two world wars have already cut them off sharply from this generation.

Focuses on the awareness of science and art, evolution and Freudian psychology. This book discusses criticism, the fantasy element in drama and popular literature, the history of the novel, the motivation of science and the function of erotic art.

Explores issues which have shaped modern physics and which hint at what may form the scientific revolution. This book discusses the understanding of time and space, quantum and relativity theories and attempts to unite them and related questions in theoretical biology.

Emphasising that chalk, limestone and coal seams are the residues of ancient life, this book suggests that this knowledge may also be applied to the rest of matter. It argues that the origin of the world was not cosmic upheaval which broke down at last into life, but organic life itself.

Centres on the problem of explaining the manifest variety and contrast in the beliefs about nature held in different groups and societies. This book maintains that the sociologist should treat all beliefs symmetrically and investigate and account for allegedly correct or scientific beliefs just as he would for incorrect or unscientific ones.

Discusses Francis Bacon's thought and work in the context of the European cultural environment that influenced Bacon's philosophy and was in turn influenced by it.

Investigates the royal society's underlying purpose and creation. This book covers the real nature of its debt to Francis Bacon and its role in the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century.

Outlines some of the important innovations in astronomy, natural philosophy and medicine which took place in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and shows how the transformation in world-view during the period was affected by broader historical terms. This book discusses themes such as the spread of Puritanism, and the decline of witchcraft.

Explains what is wrong with the traditional methodology of 'inductive' reasoning.

Taking a radical interpretation of the Kuhnian concept of paradigm incommensurability, this book discusses the difficulties of gaining access to the ideas of communities with different rational categories. It defines the subject area of parapsychology, offering a review of the relevant literature.

Charles Wheatstone collaborated with William Cooke in the invention and early exploitation of the Electric Telegraph. This was the first long distance, faster-than-a-horse messenger. This book discusses the way in which two such antagonistic men were driven into collaboration and sets out the history of the early telegraph lines.

The boundaries of space exploration are being pushed back constantly, but the realm of the partially understood and the totally unknown is as great as ever. This book deals with astronomical instruments and their application, discoveries in the solar system, stellar evolution, the exploding starts, the galaxies, quasars, and pulsars.

Presents an introduction to the philosophy of the social sciences. This book provides answers to questions about empiricism, explanation and rationality. It evaluates contemporary writings on the subject which can be as difficult as they are important to understand.

The original tension within Marxist philosophy between positivism and metaphysics was repressed but not resolved in this first phase of Soviet Marxism. This book correlates the development of ideas with trends in the Cultural Revolution.

Deals with issues of bureaucracy in science threatening its creativity and the failure of industry to recruit the best graduates, as well as what attracts people to study science.

This volume discusses many aspects of ESP. The general theme is that the phenomena is very valid and can no longer be ignored.

Argues that philosophy ought to be more than the art of clarifying thought and that it should concern itself with outlining a scientifically plausible world view. This book deals with phenomenalism and the reality of theoretical entities, and with the relation between the physical and biological sciences.

Can one discern certain regularities in the manoeuvrings and techniques employed by scientists and can these be formulated into the methodological principles of science? What is the origin and basis of such principles? This book investigates these questions and sheds light on the growth mechanism of the evolving structure of science itself.

Puts forward unorthodox ideas about the philosophy of and sociology of science, starting from the conviction that modern societies face deep problems arising from unresolved dilemmas about the meaning, content and technical applications of the theories of nature they employ.

Presents an examination of warrant statements - statements which indicated something about the grounds on behalf of some further judgement, choice or action. This book studies the role of warrant statements in theoretical discourse. It also concerns their role in practical discourse.

Distinguishes between two traditions in the philosophy of science - the aristotelian, stresses on explanation in terms of purpose and intentionality, and the galilean, which takes causal explanation as primary. This work traces the history of these traditions as they are manifested in such movements as positivism, Marxism and linguistic analysis.

Discoveries in modern biology can radically change human life as we know it. As our understanding of living processes, such as inheritance, grows, so do the possibilities of applying these results for good and evil, such as the treatment of disease, and the control of ageing. This book discusses these discoveries and their implications.

The main concern of this book is the nature of the gap between the theoretical issues, raised at an abstract level by social scientists, and their facts, the material organized in an empirical analysis.

The main concern of this book is the nature of the gap between the theoretical issues, raised at an abstract level by social scientists, and their facts, the material organized in an empirical analysis.