Platonism And The Objects Of Science

Author : Scott Berman
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1350080225
Total Pages : 192 pages
Book Rating : 4.25/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Platonism and the Objects of Science written by Scott Berman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-02-20 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What are the objects of science? Are they just the things in our scientific experiments that are located in space and time? Or does science also require that there be additional things that are not located in space and time? Using clear examples, these are just some of the questions that Scott Berman explores as he shows why alternative theories such as Nominalism, Contemporary Aristotelianism, Constructivism, and Classical Aristotelianism, fall short. He demonstrates why the objects of scientific knowledge need to be not located in space or time if they are to do the explanatory work scientists need them to do. The result is a contemporary version of Platonism that provides us with the best way to explain what the objects of scientific understanding are, and how those non-spatiotemporal things relate to the spatiotemporal things of scientific experiments, as well as everything around us, including even ourselves.

Author : C. Cheyne
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 9401597472
Total Pages : 254 pages
Book Rating : 4.70/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Knowledge, Cause, and Abstract Objects written by C. Cheyne and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-14 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: According to platonists, entities such as numbers, sets, propositions and properties are abstract objects. But abstract objects lack causal powers and a location in space and time, so how could we ever come to know of the existence of such impotent and remote objects? In Knowledge, Cause, and Abstract Objects, Colin Cheyne presents the first systematic and detailed account of this epistemological objection to the platonist doctrine that abstract objects exist and can be known. Since mathematics has such a central role in the acquisition of scientific knowledge, he concentrates on mathematical platonism. He also concentrates on our knowledge of what exists, and argues for a causal constraint on such existential knowledge. Finally, he exposes the weaknesses of recent attempts by platonists to account for our supposed platonic knowledge. This book will be of particular interest to researchers and advanced students of epistemology and of the philosophy of mathematics and science. It will also be of interest to all philosophers with a general interest in metaphysics and ontology.

Author : Scott Berman
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1350080233
Total Pages : 189 pages
Book Rating : 4.32/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Platonism and the Objects of Science written by Scott Berman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-02-20 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What are the objects of science? Are they just the things in our scientific experiments that are located in space and time? Or does science also require that there be additional things that are not located in space and time? Using clear examples, these are just some of the questions that Scott Berman explores as he shows why alternative theories such as Nominalism, Contemporary Aristotelianism, Constructivism, and Classical Aristotelianism, fall short. He demonstrates why the objects of scientific knowledge need to be not located in space or time if they are to do the explanatory work scientists need them to do. The result is a contemporary version of Platonism that provides us with the best way to explain what the objects of scientific understanding are, and how those non-spatiotemporal things relate to the spatiotemporal things of scientific experiments, as well as everything around us, including even ourselves.

Author : Thomas Kjeller Johansen
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107320119
Total Pages : 229 pages
Book Rating : 4.16/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Plato's Natural Philosophy written by Thomas Kjeller Johansen and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2004-07-01 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Plato's dialogue the Timaeus-Critias presents two connected accounts, that of the story of Atlantis and its defeat by ancient Athens and that of the creation of the cosmos by a divine craftsman. This book offers a unified reading of the dialogue. It tackles a wide range of interpretative and philosophical issues. Topics discussed include the function of the famous Atlantis story, the notion of cosmology as 'myth' and as 'likely', and the role of God in Platonic cosmology. Other areas commented upon are Plato's concepts of 'necessity' and 'teleology', the nature of the 'receptacle', the relationship between the soul and the body, the use of perception in cosmology, and the work's peculiar monologue form. The unifying theme is teleology: Plato's attempt to show the cosmos to be organised for the good. A central lesson which emerges is that the Timaeus is closer to Aristotle's physics than previously thought.

Author : John Peter Anton
Publisher : Academic Resources Corp
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 154 pages
Book Rating : 4.03/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Science and the Sciences in Plato written by John Peter Anton and published by Academic Resources Corp. This book was released on 1980 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Julia Annas
Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 019157922X
Total Pages : 128 pages
Book Rating : 4.26/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Plato: A Very Short Introduction written by Julia Annas and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2003-02-13 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This lively and accessible introduction to Plato focuses on the philosophy and argument of his writings, drawing the reader into Plato's way of doing philosophy, and the general themes of his thinking. This is not a book to leave the reader standing in the outer court of introduction and background information, but leads directly into Plato's argument. It looks at Plato as a thinker grappling with philosophical problems in a variety of ways, rather than a philosopher with a fully worked-out system. It includes a brief account of Plato's life and the various interpretations that have been drawn from the sparse remains of information. It stresses the importance of the founding of the Academy and the conception of philosophy as a subject. Julia Annas discusses Plato's style of writing: his use of the dialogue form, his use of what we today call fiction, and his philosophical transformation of myths. She also looks at his discussions of love and philosophy, his attitude to women, and to homosexual love, explores Plato's claim that virtue is sufficient for happiness, and touches on his arguments for the immortality of the soul and his ideas about the nature of the universe. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Author : James Robert Brown
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1136580387
Total Pages : 195 pages
Book Rating : 4.83/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Platonism, Naturalism, and Mathematical Knowledge written by James Robert Brown and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-06-17 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study addresses a central theme in current philosophy: Platonism vs Naturalism and provides accounts of both approaches to mathematics, crucially discussing Quine, Maddy, Kitcher, Lakoff, Colyvan, and many others. Beginning with accounts of both approaches, Brown defends Platonism by arguing that only a Platonistic approach can account for concept acquisition in a number of special cases in the sciences. He also argues for a particular view of applied mathematics, a view that supports Platonism against Naturalist alternatives. Not only does this engaging book present the Platonist-Naturalist debate over mathematics in a comprehensive fashion, but it also sheds considerable light on non-mathematical aspects of a dispute that is central to contemporary philosophy.

Author : M. F. Burnyeat
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 0521750725
Total Pages : 393 pages
Book Rating : 4.21/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Explorations in Ancient and Modern Philosophy written by M. F. Burnyeat and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-06-14 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first of two volumes collecting the published work of one of the greatest living ancient philosophers, M.F. Burnyeat.

Author : Theokritos Kouremenos
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN 13 : 3110601486
Total Pages : 158 pages
Book Rating : 4.80/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Plato’s forms, mathematics and astronomy written by Theokritos Kouremenos and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2018-05-22 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Plato’s view that mathematics paves the way for his philosophy of forms is well known. This book attempts to flesh out the relationship between mathematics and philosophy as Plato conceived them by proposing that in his view, although it is philosophy that came up with the concept of beings, which he calls forms, and highlighted their importance, first to natural philosophy and then to ethics, the things that do qualify as beings are inchoately revealed by mathematics as the raw materials that must be further processed by philosophy (mathematicians, to use Plato’s simile in the Euthedemus, do not invent the theorems they prove but discover beings and, like hunters who must hand over what they catch to chefs if it is going to turn into something useful, they must hand over their discoveries to philosophers). Even those forms that do not bear names of mathematical objects, such as the famous forms of beauty and goodness, are in fact forms of mathematical objects. The first chapter is an attempt to defend this thesis. The second argues that for Plato philosophy’s crucial task of investigating the exfoliation of the forms into the sensible world, including the sphere of human private and public life, is already foreshadowed in one of its branches, astronomy.

Author : Mark Balaguer
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 9780195143980
Total Pages : 234 pages
Book Rating : 4.81/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Platonism and Anti-Platonism in Mathematics written by Mark Balaguer and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2001 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, Balaguer demonstrates that there are no good arguments for or against mathematical platonism. He does this by establishing that both platonism and anti-platonism are defensible. (Philosophy)