Oxford University Press (2002)
Authors |
|
Abstract |
What is science? Is there a real difference between science and myth? Is science objective? Can science explain everything? This Very Short Introduction provides a concise overview of the main themes of contemporary philosophy of science. Beginning with a short history of science to set the scene, Samir Okasha goes on to investigate the nature of scientific reasoning, scientific explanation, revolutions in science, and theories such as realism and anti-realism. He also looks at philosophical issues in particular sciences, including the problem of classification in biology, and the nature of space and time in physics. The final chapter touches on the conflicts between science and religion, and explores whether science is ultimately a good thing.
|
Keywords | Science Philosophy |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
Reprint years | 2016 |
Buy this book |
Find it on Amazon.com
|
Call number | Q175.O4555 2002 |
ISBN(s) | 0192802836 9780192802835 9780198745587 0198745583 9787544732765 7544732762 |
Options |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Download options

What is science?
‘What is science?’ asks what it is that makes something a science and shows that one of the key problems in philosophy of science is to understand how techniques such as experimentation, observation, and theory-construction have enabled scientists to unravel so many of nature's secrets. Th... see more
Realism and anti‐realism
‘Realism and anti-realism’ is concerned with the debate between scientific realism and its converse, anti-realism or instrumentalism. Realists hold that the aim of science is to provide a true description of the world. Anti-realists hold that it is to provide a true description of the ‘obs... see more
References found in this work BETA
No references found.
Citations of this work BETA
Historical Inductions, Unconceived Alternatives, and Unconceived Objections.Moti Mizrahi - 2016 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 47 (1):59-68.
When to Defer to Supermajority Testimony — and When Not.Christian List - 2014 - In Jennifer Lackey (ed.), Essays in Collective Epistemology. Oxford University Press. pp. 240-249.
The Methodology of Political Theory.Christian List & Laura Valentini - 2016 - In Herman Cappelen, Tamar Szabó Gendler & John Hawthorne (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Methodology. Oxford University Press.
Is Behavioural Flexibility Evidence of Cognitive Complexity? How Evolution Can Inform Comparative Cognition.Irina Mikhalevich, Russell Powell & Corina Logan - 2017 - Interface Focus 7.
View all 23 citations / Add more citations
Similar books and articles
Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science From Bunk.Massimo Pigliucci - 2010 - University of Chicago Press.
Inductions, Red Herrings, and the Best Explanation for the Mixed Record of Science.P. D. Magnus - 2010 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 61 (4):803-819.
Scientific Inquiry: Readings in the Philosophy of Science.Robert Klee (ed.) - 1998 - Oxford University Press.
First Science: The Missing Science, the Theory of Everything, and the Arrow of Time.Spencer Scoular - 2008 - Universal Publishers.
Analytics
Added to PP index
2009-01-28
Total views
268 ( #31,252 of 2,411,650 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
17 ( #42,650 of 2,411,650 )
2009-01-28
Total views
268 ( #31,252 of 2,411,650 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
17 ( #42,650 of 2,411,650 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads