Philosophy of science Books
Brill The Arabic Writing Tradition an Historical Survey
Book Synopsis
£205.20
Springer Determinism and Freewill: Anthony Collins’ A Philosophical Inquiry Concerning Human Liberty
Book SynopsisThe Philosophical Inquiry concerning Human Liberty of Anthony Collins' was considered by Joseph Priestley and Voltaire to be the best book written on freewill up to their own time. Priestley admitted that it convert ed him to determinism and it had a powerful effect on Voltaire in the same direction. It seems important to place in its wider historical context a book which so influenced such men and which greatly impressed the philosophes in general. Therefore - and because such an account has value in itself - the Introduction contains a survey of the freewill controversy from the time of Hobbes to that of Leibniz, giving in some detail the opinions of Hobbes, Locke, Pierre Bayle, William King, Archbishop of Dublin, and Leibniz and an account of the Scholastic doctrine of liberty of indifference - opinions which either influenced Collins or against which he reacted. The value and originality of Collins' works need assessing. He was also at times liable to misinterpret or misunderstand the authorities he quoted. I have, therefore, subjected the Inquiry to a detailed critique. This also gives cross-references to parallel passages in Collins' works and those of the authors who influenced him, and, by discussing the philosophical and theological questions to which his writings give rise, obviates the need for a good many footnotes in the notes that follow the text.Table of ContentsDeism.- Anthony Collins.- Writings.- The Controversy on Freewill.- The Philosophical Inquiry.- Thomas Hobbes.- John Locke.- Pierre Bayle and William King.- Liberty of Indifference.- De Origine Mali.- Bayle and King.- Leibniz.- The Inquiry.- Conclusion.- Text of the Philosophical Inquiry concerning Human Liberty.- Notes to the Text of the Inquiry.- Collation of the Text of the Inquiry.
£85.49
Springer Can Theories be Refuted?: Essays on the Duhem-Quine Thesis
Book SynopsisAccording to a view assumed by many scientists and philosophers of science and standardly found in science textbooks, it is controlled ex perience which provides the basis for distinguishing between acceptable and unacceptable theories in science: acceptable theories are those which can pass empirical tests. It has often been thought that a certain sort of test is particularly significant: 'crucial experiments' provide supporting empiri cal evidence for one theory while providing conclusive evidence against another. However, in 1906 Pierre Duhem argued that the falsification of a theory is necessarily ambiguous and therefore that there are no crucial experiments; one can never be sure that it is a given theory rather than auxiliary or background hypotheses which experiment has falsified. w. V. Quine has concurred in this judgment, arguing that "our statements about the external world face the tribunal of sense experience not indi vidually but only as a corporate body". Some philosophers have thought that the Duhem-Quine thesis gra tuitously raises perplexities. Others see it as doubly significant; these philosophers think that it provides a base for criticism of the foundational view of knowledge which has dominated much of western thought since Descartes, and they think that it opens the door to a new and fruitful way to conceive of scientific progress in particular and of the nature and growth of knowledge in general.Table of ContentsPhysical Theory and Experiment.- Two Dogmas of Empiricism.- Empiricist Criteria of Cognitive Significance: Problems and Changes.- Some Fundamental Problems in the Logic of Scientific Discovery.- Background Knowledge and Scientific Growth.- The Duhemian Argument.- A Comment on Grünbaum’s Claim.- Scientific Revolutions as Changes of World View.- Grünbaum on ‘The Duhemian Argument’.- Quine, Grünbaum, and the Duhemian Thesis.- Duhem, Quine and Grünbaum on Falsification.- Duhem, Quine and a New Empiricism.- Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes.- Is it never Possible to Falsify a Hypothesis Irrevocably?.- The Rationality of Science (From‘Against Method’).- Index of Names.
£189.99
Springer Hegel’s Philosophy of Subjective Spirit: Volume 3 Phenomenology and Psychology
Table of Contents(Volume Three).- B. The Phenomenology of Spirit. Consciousness § 413.- a. Consciousness as such § 418.- ?) Sensuous consciousness § 418.- ?) Perception § 420.- 1) Observation.- 2) Connection.- 3) Demonstration.- ?) Understanding § 422.- b. Self-consciousness § 424.- ?) Desire §426.- 1) Drive.- 2) Activity.- 3) Satisfaction § 428.- ?) Recognitive self-consciousness § 430.- 1) Struggle §431.- 2) Mastery and Servitude § 433.- 3) Community of need § 434.- ?) Universal self-consciousness § 436.- c. Reason § 438.- C. Psychology. Spirit § 440.- a. Theoretical spirit (Intelligence) § 445.- ?) Intuition § 446.- 1) Feeling §446.- 2) Attention § 448.- 3) Intuition proper § 449.- ?) Presentation § 451.- 1) Recollection § 452.- i) Image.- ii) The unconsciously preserved image § 453.- iii) Recollection proper § 454.- 2) Imagination § 455.- i) Reproductive.- ii) Associative § 456.- iii) Phantasy § 457.- (1) Symbolic.- (2) The sign § 458.- (3) Language § 459.- 3) Memory § 461.- i) Verbal.- ii) Reproductive § 462.- iii) Mechanical § 463.- ?) Thought § 465.- 1) Understanding § 467.- 2) Judgement.- 3) Formal reason.- b. Practical spirit § 469.- ?) Practical feeling § 471.- 1) Subjective § 472.- 2) Intuitive.- 3) Thought.- ?) Impulses and wilfulness § 473.- 1) Passion § 474.- 2) Interest § 475.- 3) Wilfulness § 477.- ?) Happiness § 479.- c. Free spirit § 481.- The Phenomenology of Spirit (Summer Term, 1825).- B. Consciousness § 329.- a. Consciousness as such.- 1) Sensuous consciousness § 335.- 2) Perceptive consciousness § 337.- 3) Understanding § 340.- b. Self-consciousness § 344.- 1) Immediate self-consciousness § 348.- i) Drive.- ii) Desire.- iii) Satisfaction § 350.- 2) The relatedness of one self-consciousness to another § 352.- i) Struggle § 353.- ii) Mastery and Servitude § 356.- iii) Communal provision.- 3) Universal self-consciousness § 358.- c. Reason § 360.- 1) Certainty § 361.- 2) Substantial truth § 362.- 3) Knowing and spirit.- Notes.- Index to the Text.- Index to the Notes.
£104.99
Springer Autopoiesis and Cognition: The Realization of the Living
Book SynopsisThis is a bold, brilliant, provocative and puzzling work. It demands a radical shift in standpoint, an almost paradoxical posture in which living systems are described in terms of what lies outside the domain of descriptions. Professor Humberto Maturana, with his colleague Francisco Varela, have undertaken the construction of a systematic theoretical biology which attempts to define living systems not as they are objects of observation and description, nor even as in teracting systems, but as self-contained unities whose only reference is to them selves. Thus, the standpoint of description of such unities from the 'outside', i. e. , by an observer, already seems to violate the fundamental requirement which Maturana and Varela posit for the characterization of such system- namely, that they are autonomous, self-referring and self-constructing closed systems - in short, autopoietic systems in their terms. Yet, on the basis of such a conceptual method, and such a theory of living systems, Maturana goes on to define cognition as a biological phenomenon; as, in effect, the very nature of all living systems. And on this basis, to generate the very domains of interac tion among such systems which constitute language, description and thinking.Table of ContentsEditorial Preface General Table Of Contents Foreword Introduction (by Professor Maturana) Biology Of Cognition Dedication Table of Contents I. Introduction II. The Problem III. Cognitive Function in General A. The Observer B. The Living System C. Evolution D. The Cognitive Process IV. Cognitive Function in Particular A. Nerve Cells B. Architecture C. Function D. Representation E. Description F. Thinking G. Natural Language H. Memory and Learning I. The Observer V. Problems in the Neurophysiology of Cognition VI. Conclusions VII. Post Scriptum Autopoiesis: The Organization Of The Living Preface (by Sir Stafford Beer) Introduction I. On Machines, living and Otherwise 1. Machines 2. Living Machines II. Dispensability of Teleonomy 1. Purposelessness 2. Individuality III. Embodiments of Autopoiesis 1. Descriptive and Causal Notions 2. Molecular Embodiments 3. Origin IV. Diversity of Autopoiesis 1. Subordination to the Condition of Unity 2. Plasticity of Ontogeny 3. Reproduction, a Complication of the Unity 4. Evolution, a Historical Network 5. Second and Third Order Autopoietic Systems V. Presence of Autopoiesis 1. Biological Implications 2. Epistemological Implications 3. Cognitive Implications Appendix: The Nervous System Glossary Bibliography Index Of Names
£151.99
Brill Evolution and Human Values
Book SynopsisInitiated by Robert Wesson, Evolution and Human Values is a collection of newly written essays designed to bring interdisciplinary insight to that area of thought where human evolution intersects with human values. The disciplines brought to bear on the subject are diverse - philosophy, psychiatry, behavioral science, biology, anthropology, psychology, biochemistry, and sociology. Yet, as organized by co-editor Patricia A. Williams, the volume falls coherently into three related sections. Entitled Evolutionary Ethics, the first section brings contemporary research to an area first explored by Herbert Spencer. Evolutionary ethics looks to the theory of evolution by natural selection to find values for human living. The second section, Evolved Ethics, discusses the evolution of language and religion and their impact on moral thought and feeling. Evolved ethics was partly Charles Darwin's subject in The Descent of Man. The last section bears the title Scientific Ethics. A nascent field, scientific ethics asks about the evolution of human nature and the implications of that nature for ethical theory and social policy. Together, the essays collected here provide important contemporary insights into what it is - and what it may be - to be human.Table of ContentsRobert GINSBERG: Editorial Foreword. Patricia A. WILLIAMS: Preface. Patricia A. WILLIAMS: Introduction. I. EVOLUTIONARY ETHICS: AMALGAMATING EVOLUTIONARY THEORY AND ETHICS. Pitfalls: ONE. Robert WESSON: The Amorality of Darwinism. Dangers: TWO. Howard L. KAYE: Cultural Being or Biological Being: The Implications of Modern Biology. Prospects: THREE. David J. DEPEW and Bruce H. WEBER: Evolution, Ethics, and the Complexity Revolution. Visions: FOUR. John H. CAMPBELL: The Moral Imperative of Our Future Evolution. II. EVOLVED ETHICS: EXPLAINING HUMAN MORAL NATURE AS A PRODUCT OF EVOLUTION. Language and Ethics: FIVE. Bernard G. CAMPBELL: How Much in the Human Condition. Is without Counterpart in Other Animals? Religion and Ethics: SIX. Brant WENEGRAT: Belief in Unseen Beings: Its Evolutionary Basis and Its Effects on Morality. III. SCIENTIFIC ETHICS: COMBINING HUMAN NATURE AND ETHICS. Intelligence and Social Policy: SEVEN. Richard J. HERRNSTEIN: Choosing a Demographic Future. Altruism and Social Policy: EIGHT. Patricia A. WILLIAMS: The Implications of Biology for Liberalism and Conservatism. Agency and Social Policy: NINE. Alan GEWIRTH: Evolutionary Theory and Welfare Policy. About the Contributors. Index.
£49.60
Leiden University Press Turning over a New Leaf: Change and Development
Book Synopsis
£33.30
Springer Otto Hahn and the Rise of Nuclear Physics
Book Synopsisand less as the emanation unden\'ent radioactive decay, and it became motion less after about 30 seconds. Since this process was occurring very rapidly, Hahn and Sackur marked the position of the pointer on a scale with pencil marks. As a timing device they used a metronome that beat out intervals of approximately 1. 3 seconds. This simple method enabled them to determine that the half-life of the emanations of actinium and emanium were the same. Although Giesel's measurements had been more precise than Debierne's, the name of actinium was retained since Debierne had made the discovery first. Hahn now returned to his sample of barium chloride. He soon conjectured that the radium-enriched preparations must harbor another radioactive sub stance. The liquids resulting from fractional crystallization, which were sup posed to contain radium only, produced two kinds of emanation. One was the long-lived emanation of radium, the other had a short life similar to the emanation produced by thorium. Hahn tried to separate this substance by adding some iron to the solutions that should have been free of radium, but to no avail. Later the reason for his failure became apparent. The element that emitted the thorium emanation was constantly replenished by the ele ment believed to be radium. Hahn succeeded in enriching a preparation until it was more than 100,000 times as intensive in its radiation as the same quantity of thorium.Trade Review`...articles which provide much interesting material on a period of the development of physics which has been relatively neglected by historians of science.' Centaurus, 28:1 Table of ContentsIntroduction: from Rutherford to Hahn.- The Nuclear Electron Hypothesis.- The Evolution of Matter: Nuclear Physics, Cosmic Rays, and Robert Millikan’s Research Program.- The Discovery of Fission and a Nuclear Physics Paradigm.- Internal and External Conditions for the Discovery of Fission by the Berlin Team.- Otto Hahn, Science, and Social Responsibility.- The Politics of British Science in the Munich Era.- Why Hahn’s Radiothorium Surprised Rutherford in Montreal.- The Discovery of Uranium Z by Otto Hahn: The First Example of Nuclear Isomerism.- Nuclear Physics in Candada in the 1930s.
£123.49
Springer Galileo, Human Knowledge, and the Book of Nature: Method Replaces Metaphysics
Book SynopsisGalileo is revered as one of the founders of modern science primarily because of such discoveries as the law of falling bodies and the moons of Jupiter. In addition to his scientific achievements, Professor Pitt argues that Galileo deserves increased attention for his contributions to the methodology of the new science and that his method retains its value even today. In a detailed analysis of Galileo's mature works, Pitt reconstructs crucial features of Galileo's epistemology. He shows how Galileo's methodological insights grow out of an appreciation of the limits of human knowledge and he brings fresh insight to our concept of Galileo's methodology and its implications for contemporary debates. Working from Galileo's insistence on the contrast between the number of things that can be known and the limited abilities of human knowers, Pitt shows how Galileo's common sense approach to rationality permits the development of a robust scientific method. At the same time, Pitt argues that we should correct our picture of Galileo, the culture hero. Instead of seeing him as a martyr to the cause of truth, Galileo is best understood as a man of his times who was responding to a variety of social pressures during a period of intellectual and political turmoil. This book will be of interest to philosophers and to historians and sociologists of science as well as to a general readership interested in the scientific revolution. Table of ContentsPreface. I. Galileo as Scientist and as Philosopher and the Emergence of Mathematical Physics in the 17th Century. II. Galileo on God, Mathematics, Certainty, and the Nature and Possibility of Human Knowledge. III. The Limits of Knowledge; Mathematics and Methodological Principles. IV. The Content of Knowledge. V. Evidence; the Basis of Knowledge. VI. Galileo's Epistemology as the Basis for a Theory of the Growth of Knowledge. Works Consulted.
£42.74
Springer Phenomenology and Dialectical Materialism
Book SynopsisTran Duc Thao, a brilliant student of philosophy at the Ecole Normale Super- ieure within the post-1935 decade of political disaster, born in Vietnam shortly after the F ir st World War, recipient of a scholarship in Paris in 1935 37, was early noted for his independent and originaI mind_ While the 1930s twisted down to the defeat of the Spanish Republic, the compromise with German Fascism at Munich, and the start of the Second World War, and while the 1940s began with hypocritical stability at the Western Front fol- lowed by the defeat of France, and the occupation of Paris by the German power together with French collaborators, and the n ended with liberation and a search for a new understanding of human situations, the young Thao was deeply immersed in the classical works of European philosophy. He was al so the attentive but critical student of a quite special generation of French metaphysicians and social philosophers: Gaston Berger, Maurice Merleau- Ponty, Emile Brehier, Henri Lefebvre, Rene le Senne, Jean-Paul Sartre, perhaps the young Louis Althusser. They, in their several modes of response, had been meditating for more than a decade on the philosophy of Edmund Husserl, which came to France in the thirties as a new metaphysical enlighten- ment - phenomenology.Trade Review`This work of Thao, in an elegant, laconic, and remarkably lucid prose, elaborates the rationale that motivated Husserl's philosophizing... Thao's knowledge of Husserl, as well as of the entire history of philosophy, is most impressive, and he has the ability to elucidate and bring to life some of the most abstruse epistemological writings of Kant, Husserl, and others. ...consider this one of the clearest introductions to phenomenology and would consider it a superb text to use in introducing my students to phenomenology.' Paul Ricoeur Table of ContentsOne: The Phenomenological Method and Its Actual Real Content.- One: The Intuition of Essences.- 1. The Technique of Variation.- 2. Pure Idealities and Empirical Idealities.- 3. The True Significance of the Notion of Essence.- 4. Difficulties with the Objectivism of Essences. The Return to the Subject.- Two: The Thematization of Concrete Consciousness.- 5. The Return to Lived Experience in the Logische Untersuchungen.- 6. The Discovery of the Reduction.- 7. The Exposition of the Ideen.- 8. The Critique of the Kantians.- 9. Fink’s Reply. The Necessity of a More Radical Explanation.- 10. The Notion of Constitution. The Signification of Transcendental Idealism.- 11. The Constitution of the World of the Spirit.- 12. The Notion of Object. Perception and Judgment.- Three: The Problems of Reason.- 13. Self-Evidence (Évidence) and Truth.- 14. The problem of Error.- 15. [Self-] Evidence as Intentional Performance (Intentionale Leistung).- 16. The Possibility of Error as Contemporaneous with Truth.- 17. A Digression — The Theory of Evidence According to Descartes and the Problem of the Cartesian Circle.- 18. Phenomenological Description as a Critique of Authenticity: Static and Genetic Constitution.- 19. The Constitution of the Formal Domain: Logic and Mathematics.- 20. The Genesis of Judgment.- Four: The Result of Phenomenology.- 21. The Genesis of Antepredicative Experience and Its Real Content.- Two: The Dialectic of Real Movement.- to Part Two.- 1. Consciousness and Matter.- One: The Dialectic of Animal Behavior as the Becoming of Sense Certainty.- 2. Phenomenological Givens and Real Givens.- 3. The Movement of the Internal Sense.- 4. The Movement of the External Sense.- 5. Remarks on the Preceding Development: The Passage to the Dialectic of Human Societies.- Two: The Dialectic of Human Societies as the Becoming of Reason.- 6. Use-Value and the Movement of Sacrifice.- 7. The Movement of Wealth and the Becoming of the Gods.- 8. Mercantile Economy and the Sacrifice of the Savior, God.- 9. Monetary Economy, the Transcendence of the Idea, and the Concept of Salvation.- 10. Capitalistic Economy, the Power of Abstraction and the Proletarian Revolution.- Notes.- Bibliography of Works Cited.- Index of Names.
£123.49
Springer Human Nature in an Age of Biotechnology: The Case
Book SynopsisNew biotechnologies have propelled the question of what it means to be human – or posthuman – to the forefront of societal and scientific consideration. This volume provides an accessible, critical overview of the main approaches in the debate on posthumanism, and argues that they do not adequately address the question of what it means to be human in an age of biotechnology. Not because they belong to rival political camps, but because they are grounded in a humanist ontology that presupposes a radical separation between human subjects and technological objects.The volume offers a comprehensive mapping of posthumanist discourse divided into four broad approaches—two humanist-based approaches: dystopic and liberal posthumanism, and two non-humanist approaches: radical and methodological posthumanism. The author compares and contrasts these models via an exploration of key issues, from human enhancement, to eugenics, to new configurations of biopower, questioning what role technology plays in defining the boundaries of the human, the subject and nature for each. Building on the contributions and limitations of radical and methodological posthumanism, the author develops a novel perspective, mediated posthumanism, that brings together insights in the philosophy of technology, the sociology of biomedicine, and Michel Foucault’s work on ethical subject constitution. In this framework, technology is neither a neutral tool nor a force that alienates humanity from itself, but something that is always already part of the experience of being human, and subjectivity is viewed as an emergent property that is constantly being shaped and transformed by its engagements with biotechnologies. Mediated posthumanism becomes a tool for identifying novel ethical modes of human experience that are richer and more multifaceted than current posthumanist perspectives allow for.The book will be essential reading for students and scholars working on ethics and technology, philosophy of technology, poststructuralism, technology and the body, and medical ethics.Table of ContentsChapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. A Cartography of the Posthuman.- Chapter 3. The Human Enhancement Debate: For, Against and from Human Nature.- Chapter 4. Towards a Non-Humanist Posthumanism: The Originary Prostheticity of Radical and Methodological Posthumanism.- Chapter 5. From Molar to Molecular Bodies: Posthumanist Frameworks in Contemporary Biology.- Chapter 6. Posthuman Subjectivity: Beyond Modern Metaphysics.- Chapter 7. Technologically Produced Nature: Nature Beyond Schizophrenia and Paranoia.- Chapter 8. New Modes of Ethical Selfhood: Geneticization and Genetically Responsible Subjectivity.- Chapter 9. Conclusion.
£42.74
Springer Swinging and Rolling: Unveiling Galileo's
Book SynopsisThis volume explores the reorganisation of knowledge taking place in the course of Galileo's research process extending over a period of more than thirty years, pursued within a network of exchanges with his contemporaries, and documented by a vast collection of research notes. It has revealed the challenging objects that motivated and shaped Galileo's thinking and closely followed the knowledge reorganization engendered by theses challenges. It has thus turned out, for example, that the problem of reducing the properties of pendulum motion to the laws governing naturally accelerated motion on inclined planes was the mainspring for the formation of Galileo's comprehensive theory of naturally accelerated motion.Table of Contents1. Introduction, Novel Insights about accelerated motion: the challenge of pendulums and planes.- 2. Speaking the investigation of naturally accelerated motion: The broken chord approach.- 3. Early experimentation: The Pendulum Plane Experiment.- 4. Prerequisite for, or challenged by the new theory: The 'ex mechanics' proof of the Law of Chords.- 5. Foundational issues before 1604: Fundamental propositions, the mechanical method and problems with the concept of velocity. Conclusion, Appendix.
£74.99
Springer Open Science: the Very Idea
Book SynopsisThis open access book provides a broad context for the understanding of current problems of science and of the different movements aiming to improve the societal impact of science and research. The author offers insights with regard to ideas, old and new, about science, and their historical origins in philosophy and sociology of science, which is of interest to a broad readership. The book shows that scientifically grounded knowledge is required and helpful in understanding intellectual and political positions in various discussions on the grand challenges of our time and how science makes impact on society. The book reveals why interventions that look good or even obvious, are often met with resistance and are hard to realize in practice. Based on a thorough analysis, as well as personal experiences in aids research, university administration and as a science observer, the author provides - while being totally open regarding science's limitations- a realistic narrative about how research is conducted, and how reliable ‘objective’ knowledge is produced. His idea of science, which draws heavily on American pragmatism, fits in with the global Open Science movement. It is argued that Open Science is a truly and historically unique movement in that it translates the analysis of the problems of science into major institutional actions of system change in order to improve academic culture and the impact of science, engaging all actors in the field of science and academia.Table of ContentsChapter 1: Science and Society – Chapter 2: Images of Science: A reality check.- Science in Transition: How science goes wrong and what to do about it.- Chapter 4: Science & Society: pragmatism by default.- Chapter 5: Science in Social Contexts.- Chapter 6: Science in Transition reduced to Practice.- chapter 7: Transition to Open Science.
£31.49
Aspekt B.V., Uitgeverij World of Our Grandchildren
Book SynopsisThe future looks brighter than most people think! That is the conclusion of this book after a thorough investigation of present facts, trends and promises of science and technology. The world population will soon stop growing. The consequences of climate change will be far-reaching, but surmountable. Science and technology will, in the 21st century, make enormous progress. They are the shaping forces of the future. This book clearly explains the potential benefits and dangers of innovations from many area of research. Special attention is paid to the question whether and how mankind will try to improve itself beyond its natural capacities. The author is by profession a physicist. He worked at CERN and other research institutes in Europe and North America. His present primary interest is in historical research.
£17.06
Amsterdam University Press Wicked Philosophy: Philosophy of Science and
Book SynopsisWicked Philosophy. Philosophy of Science and Vision Development for Complex Problems provides an overview of the philosophy of the natural sciences, the social sciences and the humanities, and explores how insights from these three domains can be integrated to help find solutions for the complex, ‘wicked’ problems we are currently facing. The core of a new science-based vision is complexity thinking, offering a meta-position for navigating alternative paradigms and making informed choices of resources for projects involving complex problems. The book also brings design thinking into problem-solving and teaching, fostering construction of an integrative approach that bridges structure and action amplified by transdisciplinary engagement of stakeholders in society. It is not always easy to set up a succesfull philosophy course for students in other programs. The author of Wicked Philosophy, Coyan Tromp, has experience in designing courses on philosophy of science for various Bachelor programs. You can find two examples here. The first example is for an introductory course to an Interdisciplinary Philosophy of Science, which is specifically suited for programs focusing at complex problems such as sustainability or health issues. The second example is a program for a course on (Philosophy of) Science in a Post-Truth Society. More examples are also available (e.g. a program in which Philosophy of Science is combined with Vision Development and Future Scenarios). In addition to the program, the author can also provide a workbook with lesson plans, both for online and on campus settings as well as additional literature suggestions for Dutch and French programmes. Please contact us at marketing@aup.nl for questions or extra material.Trade Review‘Practitioners, teachers, and students across the entire range of sciences and humanities will benefit from Tromp’s comparison of traditional and newer paradigms, models, and approaches. She identifies their underlying assumptions, weighing their strengths and weaknesses for grappling with challenges such as the primary case of sustainable food systems. The book is anchored throughout by explanations of key tools, definitions of key concepts, and guiding questions for reflection and discussion.’ Julie Thompson Klein, Professor of Humanities Emerita in the English Department, Wayne State University (USA) and Affiliate of TdLaB at ETH-Zurich ‘A wide-ranging synthesis of ideas leading to a persuasive philosophy of transdisciplinary studies, one from which interdisciplinarians can glean much of value.’ William Newell, Professor Emeritus Interdisciplinary Studies, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio (USA)Table of ContentsPreface 1. Twenty-First-Century Science 1.1 ‘Wicked’ Problems: The Great Challenges of Our Times 1.2 The State of Modern Science 1.3 The Inevitability of Philosophy 1.4 Future Avenues 2 Contemporary Approaches 2.1 The Traditional Standard Research Model 2.2 Interpretivism as an Alternative Paradigm 2.3 Current Models and Future Thinking 2.4 Unity in Diversity 3 Structure and Action in Science 3.1 Objective Structures or Subjective Perspectives? 3.2 A Clash of Approaches? 3.3 Beyond the Oppositions 3.4 Towards a More Dynamic View of Science 4 Science as a Rational Process 4.1 The ‘Project of Reason’ 4.2 Unintended and Unwanted Consequences of the Rationality Process 4.3 The Societal Value of Science 4.4 Does Knowledge Also Imply Wisdom? 4.5 From Funnel Rationality to a More Comprehensive Rationality 5 Robust Knowledge for Complex Problems 5.1 Towards a Complexity-Based, Integrated Research Approach 5.2 Science in Progress 5.3 Quality Criteria for Research into Complex Issues 5.4 Dealing with Complexity 6 The Future of Science 6.1 Science and Futures Thinking 6.2 Vision-Based Science and Science-Based Visions 6.3 From Funnel Vision to Comprehensive Science References Glossary and Index Colophon
£24.99
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Interconnected Universe, The: Conceptual
Book SynopsisThis book offers an original hypothesis capable of unifying evolution in the physical universe with evolution in biology; herewith it lays the conceptual foundations of “transdisciplinary unified theory”. The rationale for the hypothesis is presented first; then the theoretical framework is outlined, and thereafter it is explored in regard to quantum physics, physical cosmology, micro- and macro-biology, and the cognitive sciences (neurophysiology, psychology, with attention to anomalous phenomena as well). The book closes with a variety of studies, both by the author and his collaborators, sketching out the implications of the hypothesis in regard to brain dynamics, cosmology, the concept of space, phenomena of creativity, and the prospects for the elaboration of a mature transdisciplinary unified theory. The Foreword is written by philosopher of science Arne Naess, and the Afterword is contributed by neuroscientist Karl Pribram.
£40.85
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Reflections On Experimental Science
Book SynopsisThis is a collection of important lecture and original articles and commentaries by Martin Perl, discoverer of the tau lepton and the third generation of elementary particles, and this year's Nobel Prize winner. This book contains a fascinating and realistic picture of experimental science based on the high energy physics research work carried out by him. Using reprints of his articles with his commentaries, the author presents the various aspects of experimental research in science: the pleasures and risks of experimental work; the pain and frustration with experiments that are useless or fail; the dreaming about experiments that were not carried out; the constant search for innovation and creativity in the work; and the special joy of discovery. The articles and commentaries range from the early days of bubble chambers and spark chambers in the 1950's to the author's present research, experiments at an electron-positron collider and a search for free quarks. The book is for the general reader as well as the scientist.
£38.00
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd How To Construct Your Intellectual Pedigree: A
Book SynopsisThis is a handbook that shows the reader how to construct an intellectual pedigree. It is also a history of science monograph because the completed intellectual pedigrees can be used individually or collectively to trace the influences of mentoring in the life sciences. The author uses Hermann Joseph Muller (1890-1967) (which includes his own intellectual pedigree) to show how knowledge was shifted from Italy to Germany and England, to France, and then to the American Colonies. Through Muller, the author goes in two directions, one leading to Huxley, Darwin, and Newton. The second leads to Agassiz, Malpighi, Borelli, and Galileo. The author also shows, from comparing 60 additional intellectual pedigrees, that about one third go to Newton, one third to Galileo and the rest to other icons of the past (e.g., Linnaeus, Lavoisier, Gay-Loussac, Leibniz). It shows how small was the pool of available scientists in the universities before the mid-19th century.This book will stimulate graduate students and faculty to construct their own intellectual pedigrees. It will also be of interest to historians and philosophers of science. The book discusses the role of mentoring, dividing this into inputs of intellectual development as well as outputs of development, using timelines arranged as circles. For each mentor, a brief account is given of that person's work and relation to the subject of the pedigree.
£85.50
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Reverse Engineering God: Irreligious Answers To
Book SynopsisWhat is morality? Do we have free will? Are there any limits to what the human mind can understand? How is it that humans speak? Why do we die? What is it that transcendental meditation transcends?Reverse Engineering God proposes rational and science-based answers to these and many other related and similar questions. It does so in a series of short 'stories.' Each story presents one question, describes the scientific data available for its solution, shows how these data, when combined with logical inferences, can be used to answer the question, and points to its relation with other questions.
£33.25
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Science, Truth, And Meaning: From Wonder To
Book SynopsisScience, Truth, and Meaning presents a scientific and philosophical examination of our place in the world. It also celebrates how diverse, scientific knowledge is interconnected and reducible to common foundations.The book focuses on aspects of scientific truth that relate to our understanding of reality, and confronts whether truth is absolute or relative to what we are. Hence, it assesses the meaning of the scientific deductions we have made and how they have profoundly influenced our conception of life and existence.The subtitle is 'From Wonder to Understanding', which is a paraphrased quote from Einstein, who said that the search for scientific truth is ' ... a continual flight from wonder to understanding'.In addressing the goal of advancing our understanding of our place in the world, this book also reveals the development and details of diverse sciences, their connections and achievements, and that while perhaps the same fundamental questions exist, they are seen in the light of an ever-refined scientific perspective on reality.Why the book is needed: many popular science books have been written, aimed at different levels of subject expertise, and nearly all treat their specific subject in isolation. Few attempt to link different sciences to their common foundations, and those that do are written by physicists. Since human knowledge is derived by, and relates to, the biological organism that human beings are, then such a book written from a biological perspective represents a novel perspective on the integration of science, and addresses new questions. This is such a book.Impressive aspects: the depth, breadth, consistency, and clarity of the work.
£121.50
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Science, Truth, And Meaning: From Wonder To
Book SynopsisScience, Truth, and Meaning presents a scientific and philosophical examination of our place in the world. It also celebrates how diverse, scientific knowledge is interconnected and reducible to common foundations.The book focuses on aspects of scientific truth that relate to our understanding of reality, and confronts whether truth is absolute or relative to what we are. Hence, it assesses the meaning of the scientific deductions we have made and how they have profoundly influenced our conception of life and existence.The subtitle is 'From Wonder to Understanding', which is a paraphrased quote from Einstein, who said that the search for scientific truth is ' ... a continual flight from wonder to understanding'.In addressing the goal of advancing our understanding of our place in the world, this book also reveals the development and details of diverse sciences, their connections and achievements, and that while perhaps the same fundamental questions exist, they are seen in the light of an ever-refined scientific perspective on reality.Why the book is needed: many popular science books have been written, aimed at different levels of subject expertise, and nearly all treat their specific subject in isolation. Few attempt to link different sciences to their common foundations, and those that do are written by physicists. Since human knowledge is derived by, and relates to, the biological organism that human beings are, then such a book written from a biological perspective represents a novel perspective on the integration of science, and addresses new questions. This is such a book.Impressive aspects: the depth, breadth, consistency, and clarity of the work.
£61.75
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd World Crisis, The - And What To Do About It: A
Book SynopsisScience and technology have made the modern world possible, but also created all the global problems that threaten our future: the climate crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, mass extinction of species, environmental degradation, overpopulation, lethal modern war, and the menace of nuclear weapons. Nicholas Maxwell, world-renowned philosopher of science and author of 14 books, argues that all these problems have come about because humans have solved only the first of two great problems of learning — how to acquire scientific knowledge and technological know-how — but not the second — how to create a civilized, wise world.The key disaster of our times is that we have science without wisdom. At present, universities all over the world are devoted to the pursuit of specialized knowledge and technology, or 'knowledge-inquiry'. Maxwell contends that they need to be radically transformed so that their basic function becomes to help humanity tackle global problems, with a more rigorous and socially beneficial perspective he calls 'wisdom-inquiry'. The World Crisis — And What to Do About It spells out in detail the changes that need to be made to academic inquiry, why they need to be made, and how they would enable universities to help humanity actively and effectively tackle and solve current global problems.Related Link(s)
£52.25
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd World Crisis, The - And What To Do About It: A
Book SynopsisScience and technology have made the modern world possible, but also created all the global problems that threaten our future: the climate crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, mass extinction of species, environmental degradation, overpopulation, lethal modern war, and the menace of nuclear weapons. Nicholas Maxwell, world-renowned philosopher of science and author of 14 books, argues that all these problems have come about because humans have solved only the first of two great problems of learning — how to acquire scientific knowledge and technological know-how — but not the second — how to create a civilized, wise world.The key disaster of our times is that we have science without wisdom. At present, universities all over the world are devoted to the pursuit of specialized knowledge and technology, or 'knowledge-inquiry'. Maxwell contends that they need to be radically transformed so that their basic function becomes to help humanity tackle global problems, with a more rigorous and socially beneficial perspective he calls 'wisdom-inquiry'. The World Crisis — And What to Do About It spells out in detail the changes that need to be made to academic inquiry, why they need to be made, and how they would enable universities to help humanity actively and effectively tackle and solve current global problems.Related Link(s)
£23.75
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Atoms And Persons: The Search For A Consistent
Book SynopsisWhat is consciousness? Does free will exist?There exists a widespread conviction that the recent scientific discoveries, especially those related to physics and biology, in particular in contemporary neurosciences, question the traditional attempts to give meaning to life and a basis for our moral compass. Current scientific thinking usually identifies the mind with the mere exchange of electrical signals among neurons. It claims that consciousness is an irrelevant epiphenomenon and that introspection is an unreliable instrument to achieve any form of knowledge. Also, that the physical universe is causally closed and therefore all that occurs only has physical causes and all kind of freedom is excluded. The problem of assigning meaning and purpose to our lives, to the essential conceptions of the value of human life and social justice, becomes practically insoluble if one accepts the predominant notions that supposedly stem from contemporary science. The clash between the scientific and humanistic conception of human beings seems to have no option but to abandon the latter.The aim of this book is to show that, contrary to what is usually considered, current advances in science allow to re-evaluate the role of consciousness and human freedom without entering into contradiction with empirical evidence or scientific theories in place today. The book starts by analyzing the certainties provided by the scientific thought and philosophical reflection while discussing the role and content of physical theories, and in particular, quantum mechanics. It discusses in detail the nature of quantum objects and the role they may have in consciousness. In particular, it analyzes models that allow phenomena of quantum nature to manifest themselves in the brains of animals and humans, and account for many of the properties of consciousness. Finally, we analyze how self-conscious and free entities like persons emerge, making compatible the scientific view with a renewed and better supported way of perceiving people, their values and culture.
£52.25
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Philosophy Of Science: Perspectives From
Book SynopsisThis book describes the framework of a new theory of science.Over the last hundred years, philosophy of science has developed its theory based on what philosophers perceived what science is and what scientists do. It does not address the basic questions that scientists care about. Thus, this book examines the conventional theories of philosophy of science from a completely different point of view and describes the most difficult problems that scientists are concerned about and how science is conducted.This book is based on the lecture notes under the same title in Honors College at the junior level in UMASS Lowell. It is qualified as a required course in Art and Humanity for science and engineering majors.
£85.50
Springer Verlag, Singapore The Beauty and Fascination of Science
Book SynopsisIn this book, Professor Anatoly Buchachenko gives a brief and informative description of the most striking achievements and discoveries made in the major natural sciences at the turn of the century – in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The author has a rare ability to describe scientific discoveries so that these achievements and their significance are understandable not only by professionals and scientists of all specialities, but for any reader interested in modern science, its role in the existence of mankind, and its impact on human society. Originally published in Russian, Professor Buchachenko’s book describes the interaction of natural sciences with social ones—philosophy and history—as well as the part played by the human factor in the development of science, especially the role of the great scientists. Table of ContentsScience.- Physics.- Mathematics.- Evolution.- Chemistry.- Biology.- Intelligence.- History.- Philosophy.- Aesthetics of Science.
£24.74
Springer Verlag, Singapore The Beauty and Fascination of Science
Book SynopsisIn this book, Professor Anatoly Buchachenko gives a brief and informative description of the most striking achievements and discoveries made in the major natural sciences at the turn of the century – in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The author has a rare ability to describe scientific discoveries so that these achievements and their significance are understandable not only by professionals and scientists of all specialities, but for any reader interested in modern science, its role in the existence of mankind, and its impact on human society. Originally published in Russian, Professor Buchachenko’s book describes the interaction of natural sciences with social ones—philosophy and history—as well as the part played by the human factor in the development of science, especially the role of the great scientists. Table of ContentsScience.- Physics.- Mathematics.- Evolution.- Chemistry.- Biology.- Intelligence.- History.- Philosophy.- Aesthetics of Science.
£24.74
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Images Of A Complex World: The Art And Poetry Of
Book SynopsisWith the poems written by winner of the Posner Poetry Award from the Council of Wisconsin Writers in 2005, this coffee-table book will delight and inform general readers curious about ideas of chaos, fractals, and nonlinear complex systems. Developed out of ten years of interdisciplinary seminars in chaos and complex systems at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, it features multiple ways of knowing: Robin Chapman's poems of everyday experience of change in a complex world, associated metaphorically with Julien Clinton Sprott's full-color computer art generated from billions of versions of only three simple equations for strange attractors, Julia sets, and iterated function systems; his definitions of 39 key terms; a mathematical appendix; and even a multiple-choice quiz to test understanding. Accompanied by a CD-ROM of the poet reading 13 poems and 1,000 images of chaos art from which slide shows can be generated and 100 high-resolution posters created, the book has a foreword by Cliff Pickover, author of A Passion for Mathematics.Trade Review"Complexity has spread like wildfire through many disciplines, revolutionizing the way we view the world around us. Robin Chapman and Clint Sprott celebrate the eclectic nature of Complexity with this beautiful and educational journey through science, art and literature."Richard TaylorProfessor of Physics, Psychology, and ArtUniversity of Oregon"This book is the future already here. On its pages, beauty and meaning are one, and art, poetry and science dance together in perfect time."Jesse Lee Kerchevalauthor of World as Dictionary and Dog Angeland Professor of EnglishUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison"Combining Julien Clinton Sprott's exquisite computer art -- generated from equations that contain chaos -- with Robin Chapman's deeply intelligent and moving poems -- by turns meditative, narrative, descriptive, witty -- this book reveals the elegant simplicity at the heart of infinite detail and variety. Bird, tree, air, flower; Mandelbrot set, non-linear system, fractal geometry, strange attractor; come together here in the most visually striking and intellectually satisfying fashion. Not since Robert Herrick explored the disorder of Julia's clothes (a Julia set, of sorts, perhaps?) has chaos had such a winsome articulation. In our increasingly fragmented world, where science and poetry, physics and art, may seem strange bedfellows, Chapman and Sprott's fertile collaboration has produced a book of wonders, a wonder of a book."Ronald Wallaceauthor of Long for This Worldand Professor of Poetry and EnglishUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison"Images of a Complex World showcases Chapman's considerable skills as a poet and Sprott's polished ability as a pedagogue ... The illustrations offer subtle but effective conjunctions between art and science, reiterating the beauty of physics and the rigor of prosody ... This book stands as a wonderful reminder of the joy we all get from our own discipline and from its conjunction with others. Though Chapman and Sprott make modest claims for their work, it is truly a stunning achievement."Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences"This collection of Chapman's poems with Sprott's visual art and mathematical expositions is a welcome compilation and nicely shows the breadth of their work, both separately and in collaboration ... Buy it or have your library purchase it, share it with your students, and dip into it when your creative pump needs priming."The Mathematical IntelligencerTable of Contents# Dynamical Systems # Viewing Dynamics # Where It All Ends # Routes to Chaos # Images of Chaos # Chaos and Predictability # Truth and Beauty
£88.20
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Images Of A Complex World: The Art And Poetry Of
Book SynopsisWith the poems written by winner of the Posner Poetry Award from the Council of Wisconsin Writers in 2005, this coffee-table book will delight and inform general readers curious about ideas of chaos, fractals, and nonlinear complex systems. Developed out of ten years of interdisciplinary seminars in chaos and complex systems at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, it features multiple ways of knowing: Robin Chapman's poems of everyday experience of change in a complex world, associated metaphorically with Julien Clinton Sprott's full-color computer art generated from billions of versions of only three simple equations for strange attractors, Julia sets, and iterated function systems; his definitions of 39 key terms; a mathematical appendix; and even a multiple-choice quiz to test understanding. Accompanied by a CD-ROM of the poet reading 13 poems and 1,000 images of chaos art from which slide shows can be generated and 100 high-resolution posters created, the book has a foreword by Cliff Pickover, author of A Passion for Mathematics.Trade Review"Complexity has spread like wildfire through many disciplines, revolutionizing the way we view the world around us. Robin Chapman and Clint Sprott celebrate the eclectic nature of Complexity with this beautiful and educational journey through science, art and literature."Richard TaylorProfessor of Physics, Psychology, and ArtUniversity of Oregon"This book is the future already here. On its pages, beauty and meaning are one, and art, poetry and science dance together in perfect time."Jesse Lee Kerchevalauthor of World as Dictionary and Dog Angeland Professor of EnglishUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison"Combining Julien Clinton Sprott's exquisite computer art -- generated from equations that contain chaos -- with Robin Chapman's deeply intelligent and moving poems -- by turns meditative, narrative, descriptive, witty -- this book reveals the elegant simplicity at the heart of infinite detail and variety. Bird, tree, air, flower; Mandelbrot set, non-linear system, fractal geometry, strange attractor; come together here in the most visually striking and intellectually satisfying fashion. Not since Robert Herrick explored the disorder of Julia's clothes (a Julia set, of sorts, perhaps?) has chaos had such a winsome articulation. In our increasingly fragmented world, where science and poetry, physics and art, may seem strange bedfellows, Chapman and Sprott's fertile collaboration has produced a book of wonders, a wonder of a book."Ronald Wallaceauthor of Long for This Worldand Professor of Poetry and EnglishUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison"Images of a Complex World showcases Chapman's considerable skills as a poet and Sprott's polished ability as a pedagogue ... The illustrations offer subtle but effective conjunctions between art and science, reiterating the beauty of physics and the rigor of prosody ... This book stands as a wonderful reminder of the joy we all get from our own discipline and from its conjunction with others. Though Chapman and Sprott make modest claims for their work, it is truly a stunning achievement."Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences"This collection of Chapman's poems with Sprott's visual art and mathematical expositions is a welcome compilation and nicely shows the breadth of their work, both separately and in collaboration ... Buy it or have your library purchase it, share it with your students, and dip into it when your creative pump needs priming."The Mathematical IntelligencerTable of Contents# Dynamical Systems # Viewing Dynamics # Where It All Ends # Routes to Chaos # Images of Chaos # Chaos and Predictability # Truth and Beauty
£57.00
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Greenhouse Warming And Nuclear Hazards: A Series
Book SynopsisThis book is a rebuttal of the common belief that grave environmental consequences are associated with the issues of global warming and nuclear hazards.Firstly, it is argued that after 25 years of research no-one has actually found evidence for greenhouse warming. Instead, the heat has caused the evaporation of ocean water to increase cloud coverage, reflecting more sunlight away, cooling down the earth and nullifying the effects of greenhouse warming. The author describes this revolution in climatology through new scientific discoveries that solve the longstanding mystery of the ice ages and explain the enigma of the missing greenhouse heat. The solution of the ice age problem is a far most important scientific accomplishment.In the second part of the book, the author argues that the effects of low-level radiation can be beneficial rather than damaging. Evidence is presented proving that low-level radiation in the US from both natural sources and human activities such as nuclear bombs tests actually reduces death rates from cancer and other diseases and increases longevity. In the Indian State of Kerala life span has been shown to increase 10.5 years due to the natural radiation from thorium mines. The book proposes that primitive life forms must have developed immune systems to counter the harmful effects of natural radioactivity and that low-level radiation from nuclear waste may one day be transformed from trash to treasure.Nature has always been kind to humans. But our self-aggrandizing species has mistaken blessings for disasters and spoiled the otherwise splendid 20th century.Table of ContentsGreenhouse Warming and Nuclear Hazards: Three Smoking Guns Prove the Falsity of Greenhouse Warming Nuclear Waste Disposal, from Trash to Treasure Cancer Death Rates of 50 States of US Related to Natural and Nuclear-Bomb-Test-Induced Low Level Radiation Greenhouse Warming: Latent Heat of Melting and Its Importance for Glaciation Cycles Origin of Ice Ages: Initial Condition Forcing and Dynamics Unraveling a Century's Mystery of the Ice Ages The Fourth Phase of Water and the Theories of Greenhouse Effects and Ice Age Glacial Cycles Research Papers on Nuclear Hazards: The Ultimate Direct Measurement of Low Level Radiation Effects Long Life Expectancy as the Beneficial Effect of Low Radiation Low Level Radiation Extends Life Span by Cutting Death Rates of Disease Including Heart Disease, Cancer, Stroke, etc. Reexamining Nuclear Energy Safety
£77.90
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Cosmic Secrets: Basic Features Of Reality
Book SynopsisWe see objects in front of us, and experience a real material effect when we approach and touch them. Thus, we conclude that all objects are embedded in space and exist objectively. However, such experiences in everyday life cannot be transferred to the atomic level: within standard quantum theory, the material world is still embedded in space, but it no longer has an objective existence. How can objects be embedded in space without existing objectively?This book addresses this and similar issues in an illustrative and non-conventional way. Using up-to-date information, the following basic questions are contemplated: What is a particle, a quantum object? What can we say about the nature of time? How is reality, in particular the cosmos, formed? What is the influence of evolution on the discovery of new developments in this field? Like the philosophers Whitehead and Bergson, the primacy of process is advocated: we experience objects — both quantum objects and those we experience in everyday life — at certain positions in space, but everything is a matter of process and the existence of static objects in space is thus eliminated.Table of ContentsFacts and Unsolved Questions in Physics; Evolution of Physical Laws; Are We Able to Find the Final Truth?; Quantum Phenomena and Cosmic Features; Unsolved Problems: Self-Energy of Particles, The Cosmological Constant; Nature of Time: Conventional Ideas and New Developments; How Is Reality Formed?; Is Everything Expressed by Processes?; Projection Theory and the Consequences for Our World View.
£112.50
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Doing Science: In The Light Of Philosophy
Book Synopsis'The originality of this book is that it reverses the tables on all current schools of philosophy, where philosophy and metaphysics are separated and isolated from the sciences. The punch line for Bunge is that practitioners in all intellectual fields need to adopt the appropriate form of metaphysics. Only then will they be enabled to create scientistic research projects.'Marx & Philosophy Review of BooksNearly all philosophers have dealt with the outcomes of scientific research, and have overlooked its philosophical presuppositions, such as those of rationality and realism. Although these presuppositions are mostly tacit and thus easily overlooked, actually they are supremely important, since some of them favor research whereas others hamper it. For instance, whereas subjectivism leads to navel gazing and uncontrolled fantasy, realism encourages us to explore the world and check our conjectures.This book examines science in the making, a process it illustrates with many examples from the natural, social, and biosocial sciences. Therefore it centers on the research process and its philosophical presuppositions. It claims that the latter constitutes a sort of matrix for conceiving and nurturing scientific projects.
£55.10
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd 43 Visions For Complexity
Book SynopsisCoping with the complexities of the social world in the 21st century requires deeper quantitative and predictive understanding. Forty-three internationally acclaimed scientists and thinkers share their vision for complexity science in the next decade in this invaluable book. Topics cover how complexity and big data science could help society to tackle the great challenges ahead, and how the newly established Complexity Science Hub Vienna might be a facilitator on this path.Published in collaboration with Institute Para Limes.
£21.85
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Invitation To Generalized Empirical Method: In
Book SynopsisBernard Lonergan identified the need and possibility of what he called 'generalized empirical method' in science and philosophy. Implementation will be a future community achievement. The book enters into details of a selection of examples in the sciences and philosophy of science. These are provided not to engage in, or blend the present aim with traditional philosophical debate, but as points of entry to help reveal the possibility and need of balanced empirical method. Taking words of Lonergan: '(Q)uestions of method are practical. So my purpose in these (chapters) is not to demonstrate what is necessary. It is not to forecast what is probable. It is ... to invite you to share in the exploration of a proposal' (Bernard Lonergan, A Third Collection (1985), 114). The main examples are drawn from biochemistry and biology, although heuristics envisioned will include all sciences.
£76.95
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Worldviews, Science And Us: Studies Of Analytical
Book SynopsisThis volume brings together the lectures presented at the 5th Metaphysics of Science Workshop held from June 2 to 3, 2005, in Ghent, Belgium. The aim of this volume is twofold. First, it fields a selection of ongoing discussions on a central topic in contemporary analytical metaphysics. Authors were asked to encapsulate their lecture topic into a précis, highlighting the contesting views, accentuating the pro and contra of the main arguments, and shedding light on the origin, the evolution and the eventual offspring of a respective discussion. Second, this volume addresses the methodological question by examining what can be learned if we compare these discussions from a methodological perspective. What are the red herrings and shortcomings? Is an integrated methodology possible? Does each discussion finally await a pluralism of plausible positions or will an overall convincing account be expected? And finally, can analytical metaphysics methodologically assert and investigate their basic assumptions, if not from a common sense stance?
£80.75
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd More And Different: Notes From A Thoughtful
Book SynopsisNamed a Top Five Book of 2012 by Physics Today, USA.“Anderson has put together an entertaining and instructive collection of highly readable reviews, columns, talks, and unpublished essays on science and the scientists he has known. He is rarely inappropriately provocative, and he is a pleasure to read.”Physics TodayPhilip Anderson was educated at University High School in Urbana, Illinois, at Harvard (BS 1943, PhD 1949), and further educated at Bell Laboratories, where his career (1949-1984) coincided with the greatest period of that remarkable institution. Starting in 1967, he shared his time with Cambridge University (until 1975) and then with Princeton, where he continued full time as Joseph Henry Professor until 1997. As an emeritus he remains active in research, and at press time he was involved in several scientific controversies about high profile subjects, in which his point of view, though unpopular at the moment, is likely to prevail eventually. His colleagues have made him one of the two physicists most often cited in the scientific literature, for several decades.His work is characterized by mathematical simplicity combined with conceptual depth, and by profound respect for experimental findings. He has explored areas outside his main discipline, the quantum theory of condensed matter (for which he won the 1977 Nobel Prize), on several occasions: his paper on what is now called the “Anderson-Higgs mechanism” was a main source for Peter Higgs' elucidation of the boson; a crucial insight led to work on the dynamics of neutron stars (pulsars); and his concept of the spin glass led far afield, to developments in practical computer algorithms and neural nets, and eventually to his involvement in the early years of the Santa Fe Institute and his co-leadership with Kenneth Arrow of two influential workshops on economics at that institution. His writing career started with a much-quoted article in Science titled “More is Different” in 1971; he was an occasional columnist for Physics Today in the 1980s and 1990s. He was more recently a reviewer of science and science-related books for the Times (London) Higher Education Supplement as well as an occasional contributor to Science, Nature, and other journals.Table of ContentsPersonal Reminiscences; History; Philosophy and Sociology; Science Tactics and Strategy; Genius; Science Wars; Politics and Sciences; Futurology; Complexity; Popularization Attempts.
£121.50
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Worldviews, Science And Us: Interdisciplinary
Book SynopsisThis volume is part of the “Worldviews, Science and Us” series of proceedings and contains several contributions on the subject of worlds, cultures and society. It represents the proceedings of several workshops and discussion panels organized by the Leo Apostel Center for Interdisciplinary studies within the framework of the “Research on the Construction of Integrating Worldviews” research community set up by the Flanders Fund for Scientific Research, over the period of time between 2005 to 2010. Further information about this research community and a full list of the associated international research centers can be found at www.vub.ac.be/CLEA/res/worldviews/Table of ContentsPreface: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Worlds, Cultures and Society(D Aerts et al.); Why Consciousness has No Plural (K Stroeken); The Relevance of a Non-Colonial View on Science and Knowledge for an Open Perspective on the World (R Pinxten); An Atlas for the Social World: What Should It (Not) Look Like? Interdisciplinarity and Pluralism in the Social Sciences (J Van Bouwel); Worlds of Legitimate Welfare Arrangements: A Realistic Utopia on Pensions (P Frericks & R Maier); Imagination and Empathy as Conditions for Interpersonal Understanding in the Context of a Facilitating Worldview (H Alma & A Smaling); Worldview as Relational Notion? Reconsidering the Relations Between Worldviews, Science and Us from a Radical Symmetrical Anthropology (L Orye); The Structures of Knowledge in a World in Transition (R E Lee); On Bridging Theory and Practice in the Perspective of History (E Van Keer); Addressing the Sustainability Challenge Beyond the Fact-Value Dichotomy: A Call for Engaged Knowledge (G Goeminne et al.).
£76.95
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Worldviews, Science And Us: Bridging Knowledge
Book SynopsisThe present volume is part of the ‘Worldviews, Science and Us’ series of proceedings. It contains selected contributions on the subject of bridging knowledge and its implications for our perspectives of the world. This volume also represents the proceedings of the interdisciplinary stream of the international workshop (Part 1) Times of Entanglement, 21-22 September 2010 at the Minsheng Art Museum in Shanghai, People's Republic of China in the context of the Shanghai World Expo 2010 and, related cutting-edge investigations in the quantum paradigm from discussion panels organized by the Leo Apostel Center for Interdisciplinary studies within the framework of the ‘Research on the Construction of Integrating Worldviews’ research community set up by the Flanders Fund for Scientific Research. Further information about this research community and a full list of the associated international research centers can be found at www.vub.ac.be/CLEA/res/worldviews/.Table of ContentsWhat about Interdisciplinarity within Philosophy? (Robrecht Vanderbeeken); History and Philosophy of Science: From Peaceful Coexistence to Golden Age of Interdisciplinarity? (Steffen Ducheyne); Can an Understanding of How Culture Evolves Awaken a Sense of Meaning in Life? (Liane Gabora); Metaphysics and Cinema (Wim Christiaens); On The Role of Contextuality in the Integration of Worldviews (Bart D'Hooghe); Compatibility and Separability for Classical and Quantum Entanglement(Diederik Aerts, Christian de Ronde and Bart D'Hooghe); Quantum Programming (Ellie D'Hondt); Measuring Meaning on the World-Wide Web (Diederik Aerts); Potentiality States: Quantum versus Classical Emergence (Diederik Aerts and Bart D'Hooghe); and other papers.
£117.00
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Intelligible Design: A Realistic Approach To The
Book SynopsisThis book provides realistic answers to hotly debated scientific topics: Science is about quantitative aspects of natural realities (physical, chemical, biological) but it is the result of human intellectual inquiry and therefore not “per se” materialistic.This book, with contributions from experts in physics, cosmology, mathematics, engineering, biology and genetics, covers timely and relevant topics such as the origin of the universe, the origin of life on Earth, the origin of man (intelligent life) and the origin of science.Table of ContentsModern Science in Historical Perspective: On the Origins of Modern Science; The Post-Renaissance Revolution: The New Science; Frank Sherwood Taylor: The Man Who was Converted by Galileo; The Limits of Science; Proofs and Demonstrations; On the Intelligibility of Quantum Mechanics; Uncertainty, Incompleteness, Chance, and Design; A Finite, Open and Contingent Universe; On the Origin and Development of Life: A Brief History of Evolutionary Thought; Life's Intelligible Design; What Are the Contributions of Genetics to the Understanding of Life?; On the Human Genome in Contrast to the Great Ape's Genome; On the Evolution Controversy; Scientific Critiques of Darwinism; Beyond Nature and History: The Religion of Darwinism; On the Riddle of Man's Origin; On Science, History and Free Will; Science and Faith.
£38.00
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd All About Science: Philosophy, History, Sociology
Book SynopsisThere is a lot of confusion and misconception concerning science. The nature and contents of science is an unsettled problem. For example, Thales of 2,600 years ago is recognized as the father of science but the word science was introduced only in the 14th century; the definition of science is often avoided in books about philosophy of science. This book aims to clear up all these confusions and present new developments in the philosophy, history, sociology and communication of science. It also aims to showcase the achievement of China's top scholars in these areas. The 18 chapters, divided into five parts, are written by prominent scholars including the Nobel laureate Robin Warren, sociologist Harry Collins, and physicist-turned-historian Dietrich Stauffer.Table of ContentsAll About Science: Philosophy, History, Sociology and Communication (Lui Lam); Philosophy of Science: Towards a Phenomenological Philosophy of Science (Guo-Sheng Wu); The Predicament of Ancient Chinese Scientific Culture (Hong-Sheng Wang); What Do Scientists Know! (Nigel Sanitt); How to Deal with the Whole: Two Kinds of Holism in Methodology (Jin-Yang Liu); History of Science: Helicobactor: The Ease and Difficulty of a New Discovery (Robin Warren); Science in Victorian Era: New Observations on Two Old Theses (Dun Liu); Medical Studies in Portugal: 1911 (Maria Burguete); The Founding of the International Liquid Crystal Society (Lui Lam); Sociology of Science: Three Waves in Science Studies (Harry Collins); Solitons and Revolution in China: 1978 - 2003 (Lui Lam); Science Culture: A Unique Chinese Phenomenon (Bing Liu and Mei-Fang Zhang); Communication of Science: Science Communication: A History and Review (Peter Broks); Science Communication in China: A Cultural Perspective (Fu-Jun Ren and Xuan Li); Popular Science Writings in Early Modern China (Lin Yin); Other Science Matters: Understanding Art through Science: From Socrates to the "Contextual Brain" (Kajsa Berg); Narrative Strategies of Role-Playing Video Games: Three Kingdoms Games as an Example (Ting-Ting Wang); Statistical Physics for Humanities: A Tutorial (Dietrich Stauffer).
£130.50
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd All About Science: Philosophy, History, Sociology
Book SynopsisThere is a lot of confusion and misconception concerning science. The nature and contents of science is an unsettled problem. For example, Thales of 2,600 years ago is recognized as the father of science but the word science was introduced only in the 14th century; the definition of science is often avoided in books about philosophy of science. This book aims to clear up all these confusions and present new developments in the philosophy, history, sociology and communication of science. It also aims to showcase the achievement of China's top scholars in these areas. The 18 chapters, divided into five parts, are written by prominent scholars including the Nobel laureate Robin Warren, sociologist Harry Collins, and physicist-turned-historian Dietrich Stauffer.Table of ContentsAll About Science: Philosophy, History, Sociology and Communication (Lui Lam); Philosophy of Science: Towards a Phenomenological Philosophy of Science (Guo-Sheng Wu); The Predicament of Ancient Chinese Scientific Culture (Hong-Sheng Wang); What Do Scientists Know! (Nigel Sanitt); How to Deal with the Whole: Two Kinds of Holism in Methodology (Jin-Yang Liu); History of Science: Helicobactor: The Ease and Difficulty of a New Discovery (Robin Warren); Science in Victorian Era: New Observations on Two Old Theses (Dun Liu); Medical Studies in Portugal: 1911 (Maria Burguete); The Founding of the International Liquid Crystal Society (Lui Lam); Sociology of Science: Three Waves in Science Studies (Harry Collins); Solitons and Revolution in China: 1978 - 2003 (Lui Lam); Science Culture: A Unique Chinese Phenomenon (Bing Liu and Mei-Fang Zhang); Communication of Science: Science Communication: A History and Review (Peter Broks); Science Communication in China: A Cultural Perspective (Fu-Jun Ren and Xuan Li); Popular Science Writings in Early Modern China (Lin Yin); Other Science Matters: Understanding Art through Science: From Socrates to the "Contextual Brain" (Kajsa Berg); Narrative Strategies of Role-Playing Video Games: Three Kingdoms Games as an Example (Ting-Ting Wang); Statistical Physics for Humanities: A Tutorial (Dietrich Stauffer).
£35.15
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Substance And Method: Studies In Philosophy Of
Book SynopsisThe book contains in-depth discussions in a rigorous manner of a host of interconnected issues and problems concerning the foundations of science. Some issues concern the substance of scientific subjects, such as the nature of spacetime and the problems in quantum mechanics, while other issues concern the methodology of science, such as the nature of theorization, idealization, as well as modeling. These discussions aim at clarifying the issues and problems, reviewing the proposed views and solutions, mapping out their logical spaces, and arguing for preferred views or solutions.Table of ContentsSubstance: Foundations of Relativistic Thermodynamics; The Nature of Spacetime and of Quantum Objects; Symmetry Principles in Physics; Reduction and Emergence in Thermo-statistical Physics; The Nature of Spontaneous Symmetry-breaking; Method: The Nature of Scientific Theorization; Idealization and Approximation; The Nature of Modeling in Science; Models and Symbols; Models and Fiction;
£157.50
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd History And Philosophy Of Biology
Book SynopsisHistory and Philosophy of Biology summarizes the major philosophical ideas that have attended the development of science in general and of biology in particular. The book then explores how the techniques and the concepts of the physical sciences have impacted biology. A reductionist approach to biology — anatomy, physiology, genetics — complements the study of evolution by natural selection and an ecological perspective. The final section of the book explores several examples of the influence of science on society, and of society on science.Each of 46 chapters of History and Philosophy of Biology has been or could be the topic of a major tome. The book is unique in that it explores the web of interactions among issues of philosophy, techniques and concepts of the physical sciences, fields of biology, and the diverse relationships between society and science.The book should appeal to readers of Scientific American or the New York Review of Books even if they are not trained biologists. It is a good text, or additional reading, for an advanced undergraduate course treating history and/or philosophy of biology or of science in general.Table of ContentsHistorical and Philosophical Perspectives: Pre-hellenic Science; Hellenic Science; China, Science; Islam, Science; Early Christianity; Inductive Logic, Works, and Francis Bacon; Deductive Logic, Maths, and Renee Descartes; The Scientific Revolution; The Church and Science; Falsifiability: Karl Popper; Paradigm: Thomas Kuhn; Two Cultures: C P Snow; Emergence; Physical Sciences: Engineering; Mathematics; Astronomy; Mechanics; Alchemy; Phlogiston; Periodic Table; Electricity, Magnetism, and Optics; Thermodynamics; Geology; Biology: Medicine; Anatomy; Physiology; Cell Biology; Embryology; Microbiology; Pharmacology; Biochemistry; Neurobiology; Botany; Genetics; Paleontology; Systematics; Evolution; Race; Information; Origin of Life; Society and Science: Integrity; Informed Consent; Faith; Art; Global Warming; Free Will;
£76.95
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd History And Philosophy Of Biology
Book SynopsisHistory and Philosophy of Biology summarizes the major philosophical ideas that have attended the development of science in general and of biology in particular. The book then explores how the techniques and the concepts of the physical sciences have impacted biology. A reductionist approach to biology — anatomy, physiology, genetics — complements the study of evolution by natural selection and an ecological perspective. The final section of the book explores several examples of the influence of science on society, and of society on science.Each of 46 chapters of History and Philosophy of Biology has been or could be the topic of a major tome. The book is unique in that it explores the web of interactions among issues of philosophy, techniques and concepts of the physical sciences, fields of biology, and the diverse relationships between society and science.The book should appeal to readers of Scientific American or the New York Review of Books even if they are not trained biologists. It is a good text, or additional reading, for an advanced undergraduate course treating history and/or philosophy of biology or of science in general.Table of ContentsHistorical and Philosophical Perspectives: Pre-hellenic Science; Hellenic Science; China, Science; Islam, Science; Early Christianity; Inductive Logic, Works, and Francis Bacon; Deductive Logic, Maths, and Renee Descartes; The Scientific Revolution; The Church and Science; Falsifiability: Karl Popper; Paradigm: Thomas Kuhn; Two Cultures: C P Snow; Emergence; Physical Sciences: Engineering; Mathematics; Astronomy; Mechanics; Alchemy; Phlogiston; Periodic Table; Electricity, Magnetism, and Optics; Thermodynamics; Geology; Biology: Medicine; Anatomy; Physiology; Cell Biology; Embryology; Microbiology; Pharmacology; Biochemistry; Neurobiology; Botany; Genetics; Paleontology; Systematics; Evolution; Race; Information; Origin of Life; Society and Science: Integrity; Informed Consent; Faith; Art; Global Warming; Free Will;
£45.60
Springer Verlag, Singapore Towards a Philosophy of Cosmic Life: New
Book SynopsisJust as the six branches of a snow crystal converge in regular proportions toward their common center, the six contributions to this book point toward a future philosophy of cosmic life. In this sense, this edited volume represents a multidisciplinary and transcultural polylogue of distinguished authors from three continents, which aims to establish highly innovative perspectives and open new frontiers of developing philosophical reflections and scientific foundations for the emergence of a common cosmic consciousness, for an integral ecology, and for a cooperative planetary civilization of humanity. John B. Cobb, Jr. uses a process-philosophical foundation to describe life as living events expressing novelty and the cosmos as a process of self-enriching and self-evolving “Life Itself.” Chandra Wickramasinghe unfolds his scientific and philosophical perspective on cosmic life in twelve successive steps, offering a wide range of arguments and insights that support an up-to-date theory of panspermia. Attila Grandpierre presents the "Cosmic Life Principle" and the comprehensive science based upon it that is inextricably linked to the healthy and cooperative civilization, to the biological laws of nature, to the laws of logic, to the uplifting of the well-being of people and ecological communities. Chunyou Yan introduces the approach of his holographic philosophy, according to which the universe must be understood as a vast living entity, every aspect of which represents life. Bei Peng shows that the proportions of energy meridians in traditional Chinese medicine correspond to musical intervals, and on this basis she demonstrates the analogy of the human body to macrocosmic phenomena. David Bartosch offers an examination of three important systematic foundations for a poly-contextural, transcultural philosophy of cosmic life with roots in Greek, Chinese, South and West Asian, and European traditions of thought. Table of Contents1. Introduction2. Cosmic Life 3. Admitting Our Inalienable Links with the Cosmos 4. The Cosmic Life Instinct Points the Way to a Healthy Ecological Civilization 5. Holographic Philosophy as a Philosophical Basis of Cosmic Life Theory 6. The Human Body as the Singing Universe 7. Poly-contextural Cornerstones for a Transcultural Philosophy of Cosmic Life
£94.99
Nova Science Publishers Inc Conceptual Features of Einstein's Theory of
Book Synopsis
£67.99
Haymarket Books The Game of Contradictions: the Philosophy of
Book SynopsisWhat is the nature of the 'laws' that Marx and Engels sought to formulate for the development of capitalism? How to understand and judge Engels's attempt to formulate a general philosophy and worldview? These are the questions highlighted in this magnificent work that situates Marx and Engels’s writing against the background of the entire nineteenth-century world of scientific problems, from physics to historiography.One of the major contributions to scholarship on Marx, Engels and nineteenth-century science, Liedman's work is here presented in English translation and with a new preface by the author.Table of ContentsPreface to the English TranslationThe Game of ContradictionsForewordIntroductionPart One1 Back to Hegel2 The Rational Method3 Engels on Marx and Hegel4 The Encounter with the Natural SciencesPart Two5 The Return of the Systems6 Conservation of Energy, and Systems7 Darwinism: Hypothesis or Worldview?8 The Human Sciences9 Facts and Laws about Humanity10 Texts, Structures and SystemsPart Three11 Engels’s Four Periods12 The Literary Sources13 The Direct Inspirations14 Theory and Empiricism: The Three Tendencies15 Inorganic Nature16 Biology and Human SciencePart Four17 Ideology and Science18 The Debates on Darwinism and Socialism19 Engels and IdeologySources and LiteratureIndex of Subjects
£42.75
