Black boxes : how science turns ignorance into knowledge / Marco J. Nathan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nathan, Marco J., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Science--Philosophy.

Science.

Science--Methodology.

Ignorance (Theory of knowledge).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 298 pages) : illustrations

Other Title:

How science turns ignorance into knowledge

Place of Publication:

Oxford, England : Oxford University Press, [2021]

Summary:

Marco J. Nathan explores the black box, the metaphorical term that scientists use for the isolation of a complex phenomenon that they don't yet understand. By detailing some fascinating episodes in the history of biology, psychology, and economics, Nathan's monograph revisits foundational questions about causation, explanation, emergence, and progress, showing how the insights of both reductionism and antireductionism can be reconciled into a fresh and exciting approach to science.

Contents:

Preface

1. Bricks and Boxes

1.1. The Wall

1.2. A Theory of Everything?

1.3. Pandora's Gift to Science: The Black Box

1.4. Structure and Synopsis

1.5. Aim and Scope

2. Between Scylla and Charybdis

2.1. Introduction

2.2. The Rock Shoal and the Whirlpool

2.3. The Rise and Fall of Classical Reductionism

2.4. Antireductionism Strikes Back

2.5. The Reductionists Return

2.6. Scylla or Charybdis?

2.7. Why Not Have the Cake and Eat It Too?

3. Lessons from the History of Science

3.1. Introduction

3.2. Darwin's Quest for Inheritance and Variation

3.3. Mendel's Missing Mechanisms: A Tale of Two Syntheses

3.4. Absent-​Minded: Psychological Behaviorism

3.5. The Nature and Significance of Economics

3.6. The Many Faces of Black Boxes

4. Placeholders

4.1. Introduction

4.2. Two Theses about Fitness

4.3. Are Dispositions Explanatory?

4.4. Placeholders in Scientific Theory and Practice

4.5. Two Types of Placeholders

5. Black-​Boxing 101

5.1. Introduction

5.2. Step One: The Framing Stage

5.3. Step Two: The Difference-​Making Stage

5.4. Step Three: The Representation Stage

5.5. What Is a Black Box? A Three-​Part Recipe

6. History of Science, Black-​Boxing Style

6.1. Introduction

6.2. Darwin's Black Boxes

6.3. Mendel's Black Boxes

6.4. Skinner's Black Boxes

6.5. Friedman's Black Boxes

6.6. Black Boxes in Science

7. Diet Mechanistic Philosophy

7.1. Introduction

7.2. The New Mechanistic Philosophy

7.3. Three Steps: A Neo-​Mechanistic Perspective

7.4. Mechanisms, Models, and Metaphysics

7.5. Mechanisms and Black Boxes

7.6. What's in a Mechanism?

7.7. The Diet Recipe

8. Emergence Reframed

8.1. Introduction

8.2. Emergence: Metaphysical or Epistemic?.

8.3. Emergence in Action: Systems Neuroscience

8.4. Emergents and Black Boxes

8.5. Refinements and Implications

8.6. Adequacy Conditions and Advantages

8.7. Concluding Remarks

9. The Fuel of Scientific Progress

9.1. Introduction

9.2. The Roots of Incommensurability

9.3. Referential Models and Incommensurability

9.4. Black Boxes and Reference Potential, Part I

9.5. Black Boxes and Reference Potential, Part II

9.6. Incommensurability, Progress, and Black Boxes

10. Sailing through the Strait

10.1. Back to Bricks and Boxes

10.2. The Quagmire

10.3. Rocking the Rock, Weathering the Whirlpool

10.4. A History of Black Boxes

10.5. The Devil in the Details?

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-19-009550-4

0-19-009551-2

0-19-009549-0

OCLC:

1243013847