Observation and Theory in Science (Thalheimer Lectures) - Hardcover

Nagel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0801813034 ISBN 13: 9780801813030

Publisher: John Hopkins University Press, 1971

Synopsis

Originally published in 1971. The three contributions collected in this volume deal with different aspects of a single theme―the logical status of scientific theories in their relation to observation. These lectures, authored by different thinkers, treat this theme in connection with some controversies in the philosophy of science. A nonspecialist who reads these lectures should realize that the theme itself is a perennial one with an ancient lineage. It has concerned philosophers from the earliest era of philosophy on down through the centuries. A central philosophical issue at stake in the lectures is the question of whether scientific theories are testable in terms of our observations such that we can know whether some theories are true and others false. Although differing in their emphases, all three contributors seek a more plausible and nonskeptical philosophical account of the status of scientific theories in relation to observation.

About this title

About the Author

Ernest Nagel was a philosopher of science who helped spearhead the logical positivist movement. He became a professor at Columbia University in 1967 and remained there until his retirement in 1970. Sylvian Bromberger was a professor of philosophy at MIT who specialized in linguistics. Adolf Grünbaum, a German American philosopher of science, was the Andrew Mellon Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh.

Edition details

• Publisher: John Hopkins University Press
• Publication date: 1971
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0801813034
• ISBN 13: 9780801813030
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 144