Philosophy of science: a contemporary introduction

223 Pages·2005·2.376 MB·English

by  Rosenberg, Alexander

Philosophy of Science
Praise for the first edition:
“A first-rate, challenging text that emphasizes the philosophy in the philosophy of
science. Rosenberg offers a superb introduction to the epistemological and meta-
physical issues at stake in modern science.”
Professor Martin Curd, Purdue University, Indiana
“Philosophy students will like the way the issues in philosophy of science are con-
nected to the basic concerns of epistemology and philosophy of language.”
Professor Peter Kosso, Northern Arizona University
“An engaging and clearly written introduction to the philosophy of science...I was
especially pleased to see the discussions of probability, the semantic view of theories,
and science studies.”
Peter Lipton, Cambridge University
Philosophy of Science:A Contemporary Introductionintroduces all the main themes in the
philosophy of science, including the nature of causation, explanation, laws, theory,
models, evidence, reductionism, probability, teleology, realism and instrumentalism.
This substantially revised and updated second edition of a highly successful,
accessible and user-friendly text will be of value to any student getting to grips with
the nature, methods and justification of science. Alex Rosenberg includes new
material on a number of subjects, including:
• the theory of natural selection
• Popper, Lakatos and Leibniz
• feminist philosophy of science
• logical positivism
• the origins of science
In addition, helpful features add greatly to the ease and clarity of this second edition:
• overviews and chapter summaries
• study questions and annotated further reading
• a helpful glossary explaining key words and concepts
Alex Rosenberg is R. Taylor Cole Professor of Philosophy at Duke University,
Durham, North Carolina, USA. His eleven books in the philosophy of science
includeThe Structure of Biological Science(1985) and Philosophy of Social Science(1995).
In 1993 he won the Lakatos Prize in the Philosophy of Science.
Routledge Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy
Series editor:
Paul K. Moser
Loyola University of Chicago
This innovative, well-structured series is for students who have already
done an introductory course in philosophy. Each book introduces a
core general subject in contemporary philosophy and offers students an

accessible but substantial transition from introductory to higher-level
college work in that subject. The series is accessible to non-specialists
and each book clearly motivates and expounds the problems and posi-
tions introduced. An orientating chapter briefly introduces its topic and
reminds readers of any crucial material they need to have retained from
a typical introductory course. Considerable attention is given to explain-
ing the central philosophical problems of a subject and the main com-
peting solutions and arguments for those solutions. The primary aim is
to educate students in the main problems, positions and arguments of
contemporary philosophy rather than to convince students of a single
position.
Classical Philosophy Philosophy of Religion
Christopher Shields Keith E. Yandell
Epistemology Philosophy of Science
Second Edition Second Edition
Robert Audi Alex Rosenberg
Ethics Social and Political Philosophy
Harry Gensler John Christman
Metaphysics Philosophy of Psychology
Second Edition (forthcoming)
Michael J. Loux José Luis Bermudez
Philosophy of Art Continental Philosophy
Noël Carroll (forthcoming)
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Philosophy of Language
William G. Lycan Classical Modern Philosophy
(forthcoming)
Philosophy of Mind Jeffrey Tlumak
Second Edition
John Heil
Philosophy of Science
A contemporary introduction
Second Edition

Alex Rosenberg
First published 2000
by Routledge
Reprinted 2003
Second edition first published 2005
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2000, 2005 Alex Rosenberg
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Rosenberg, Alexander, 1946–
The philosophy of science : a contemporary introduction / [Alex
Rosenberg].– 2nd ed.
p. cm. – (Routledge contemporary introductions to
philosophy)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Science–Philosophy. I. Title. II. Series.
Q175.R5475 2005
501–dc22
2004021927
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
ISBN 0-203-08706-2 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-415-34316-X (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-34317-8 (pbk)
For Martha Ellen Reeves
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
1 Why philosophy of science? 1
Overview 1
1.1 The relationship between science and philosophy 2
1.2 Scientific questions and questions about science 6
1.3 Modern science as philosophy 8
1.4 Science and western civilization 13
Summary 18
Study questions 18
Suggested reading 19
2 Explanation, causation and laws 21
Overview 21
2.1 Logical positivism sets the agenda 22
2.2 Defining scientific explanation 25
2.3 Why do laws explain? 33
2.4 Counterexamples and the pragmatics of
explanation 37
Summary 44
Study questions 45
Suggested reading 45
3 Scientific explanation and its discontents 48
Overview 48
3.1 Inexact laws and probabilities 49
3.2 Causation and teleology 56
3.3 From intelligibility to necessity 61
Summary 66
Study questions 67
Suggested reading 67
4 The structure and metaphysics of scientific theories 69
Overview 69
4.1 How do theories work? 70
4.2 Reduction, replacement and the progress of
science 80
4.3 The problem of theoretical terms and the
things they name 84
viii Contents
4.4 Theories and models 97
4.5 A case study: the theory of natural selection 103
Summary 107
Study questions 109
Suggested reading 109
5 The epistemology of scientific theorizing 112
Overview 112
5.1 A brief history of empiricism as science’s
epistemology 113

5.2 The epistemology of scientific testing 116
5.3 Induction as a pseudo-problem: Popper’s gambit 120
5.4 Statistics and probability to the rescue? 125
5.5 Underdetermination 138
Summary 140
Study questions 142
Suggested reading 142
6 The challenge of history and post-positivism 145
Overview 145
6.1 A place for history? 146
6.2 No place for first philosophy? 156
6.3 Are scientific research programs rational? 163
Summary 167
Study questions 168
Suggested reading 169
7 The contested character of science and the
fundamental questions of philosophy 170
Overview 170
7.1 From philosophy through history to post-
modernism 171
7.2 Scientism, sexism and significant truths 179
7.3 Dealing with relativism: could the Earth really
be flat? 184
Summary 191
Study questions 192
Suggested reading 192
Glossary 194
Bibliography 202
Index 206
Acknowledgments
The first edition of this work began with the outrageous ambition of provid-
ing a worthy successor to Carl G. Hempel’s splendid Philosophy of Natural
Science, first published in 1966 and never yet improved upon. Browning’s
Andrea Del Sarto tells us, “Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or
what’s a heaven for.”
My second ambition was more attainable. It was to show that the prob-
lems of the philosophy of science are among the fundamental problems of
philosophy, and that these problems emerge in our attempt to understand
the nature of science.
The success of the first edition has encouraged me to make a further effort
to approach the clarity if not the concision of Carl Hempel’s exposition. The
first edition’s reception among students and the general reader has also
encouraged me to think that the second of my two objectives is actually
attainable.
My eventual recognition of the fact that the problems of the philosophy
of science are just versions of the basic problems of epistemology and meta-
physics is the result of three decades of education by the likes of Peter
Achinstein, Nick Rescher, Adolph Grunbaum, Richard Braithwaite, John
Earman, David Hull, Michael Ruse, Bas van Fraassen, Elliot Sober, Philip
Kitcher, Lindley Darden, Dan Hausman, Carl Hoefer, Marc Lange, Paul
Churchland, Pat Churchland, Nancy Cartwright, Jarrett Leplin, Arthur
Fine, Paul Teller, Jan Cover, Paul Thompson, John Beatty, Ken Waters,
Larry Hardin, Richard Boyd, Richard Jeffrey, Tom Kuhn, Don Campbell,
David Lewis, John Watkins, John Mackie, Wesley Salmon, Merilee Salmon,
Bill Newton-Smith, John Worrall, Joe Pitt, Peter Kosso, Larry Wright,
Helen Longino, Elizabeth Anderson, Allison Wyle, Robert Brandon, Yuri
Balashov, John Robertson, Harold Kincaid, just to name a few dozen.
In writing the first edition of this book, I had had detailed comments
from Martin Curd, Neven Sesardic, Jarrett Leplin, Carl Hoefer, and extra-
ordinary help from Marc Lange. When I finished that edition I realized that
I had not produced a book that did full justice to all their advice and
admonition. Though in the second edition I may have more nearly
approached a result that repays their help, I am under no illusion that
further improvement is impossible.
I must also thank a number of anonymous referees and several philo-
sophers who have written published reviews of the first edition, all of whose
criticisms and suggestions I have considered and mostly adopted in this new
edition. Additionally, I have made a few changes in the text that reflect
x Acknowledgments
observations and corrections of its Chinese translator, Huang Jingji. I owe a
debt as well to students (my own, including especially Samir Okasha, Fred-
eric Bouchard, Stefan Linquist, Marion Hourdequin and Tamler Sommers)
and those teachers in classes which have adopted the text, and written to me
about its lacunae.
A companion anthology to this textbook has been prepared by Yuri Bal-
ashov and the present author: Philosophy of Science: Contemporary Readings. It
was designed after the first edition of this work was already in print, with an
eye to providing a sourcebook of original papers coordinated with the text-
book. The guides to further reading at the end of each chapter include spe-
cific suggestions from this anthology as well as from a number of others and
from the broader scholarly literature. Aiding and abetting Yuri Balashov in
the preparation of this companion anthology was a singular pleasure as well
as an educational experience which forced me to think carefully about how a
second edition of the textbook might improve on the first one. I am in Yuri
Balashov’s debt as much as I am obliged to any of the others mentioned
hitherto.
Geneva, Switzerland
August 2004