Exceeding our grasp : science, history, and the problem of unconceived alternatives / P. Kyle Stanford.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stanford, P. Kyle, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Inference.

Reasoning.

Science--Philosophy.

Science.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 234 pages)

Other Title:

Science, history, and the problem of unconceived alternatives

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2006.

Summary:

This volume argues that history reveals our routine failure to even conceive of well-confirmed alternatives to our scientific theories, and similar alternatives to our own theories likely remain unconceived. It shows why defences of scientific realism cannot evade the problem and proposes an alternative image of the scientific enterprise.

Contents:

Realism, pessimism, and underdetermination

Chasing Duhem: the problem of unconceived alternatives

Darwin and pangenesis: the search for the material basis of generation and heredity

Galton and the stirp theory

August Weismann's theory of the germ-plasm

History revisited: Pyrrhic victories for scientific realism

Selective confirmation and the historical record: "another such victory over the Romans"?

Science without realism?

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Other Format:

Print version

ISBN:

0-19-978636-4

0-19-517408-9

OCLC:

191826456