The Chances Of Explanation

Author : Paul Humphreys
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400860768
Total Pages : 181 pages
Book Rating : 4.60/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Chances of Explanation written by Paul Humphreys and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2014-07-14 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a post-positivist theory of deterministic and probabilistic causality that supports both quantitative and qualitative explanations. Features of particular interest include the ability to provide true explanations in contexts where our knowledge is incomplete, a systematic interpretation of causal modeling techniques in the social sciences, and a direct realist view of causal relations that is compatible with a liberal empiricism. The book should be of wide interest to both philosophers and scientists. Originally published in 1989. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Author : Uri D. Leibowitz
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0191084263
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.63/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Explanation in Ethics and Mathematics written by Uri D. Leibowitz and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-05-26 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How far should our realism extend? For many years philosophers of mathematics and philosophers of ethics have worked independently to address the question of how best to understand the entities apparently referred to by mathematical and ethical talk. But the similarities between their endeavours are not often emphasised. This book provides that emphasis. In particular, it focuses on two types of argumentative strategies that have been deployed in both areas. The first—debunking arguments—aims to put pressure on realism by emphasising the seeming redundancy of mathematical or moral entities when it comes to explaining our judgements. In the moral realm this challenge has been made by Gilbert Harman and Sharon Street; in the mathematical realm it is known as the 'Benacerraf-Field' problem. The second strategy—indispensability arguments—aims to provide support for realism by emphasising the seeming intellectual indispensability of mathematical or moral entities, for example when constructing good explanatory theories. This strategy is associated with Quine and Putnam in mathematics and with Nicholas Sturgeon and David Enoch in ethics. Explanation in Ethics and Mathematics addresses these issues through an explicitly comparative methodology which we call the 'companions in illumination' approach. By considering how argumentative strategies in the philosophy of mathematics might apply to the philosophy of ethics, and vice versa, the papers collected here break new ground in both areas. For good measure, two further companions for illumination are also broached: the philosophy of chance and the philosophy of religion. Collectively, these comparisons light up new questions, arguments, and problems of interest to scholars interested in realism in any area.

Author : W. Spohn
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 9401132445
Total Pages : 247 pages
Book Rating : 4.42/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Existence and Explanation written by W. Spohn and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of essays is dedicated to 'Joe' Karel Lambert. The contributors are all personally affected to Joe in some way or other, but they are definitely not the only ones. Whatever excuses there are - there are some -, the editors apologize to whomever they have neglected. But even so the collection displays how influential Karel Lambert has been, personally and through his teaching and his writings. The display is in alphabetical order - with one exception: Bas van Fraassen, being about the earliest student of Karel Lambert, opens the collection with some reminiscences. Naturally, one of the focal points of this volume is Lambert's logical thinking and (or: freed of) ontological thinking. Free logic is intimately connected with description theory. Bas van Fraassen gives a survey of the development of the area, and Charles Daniels points to difficulties with definite descriptions in modal contexts and stories. Peter Woodruff addresses the relation between free logic and supervaluation semantics, presenting a novel condition which recovers desirable metatheoretic properties for free logic under that semantics. Terence Parsons shows how free logic can be utilized in interpreting sentences as purporting to denote events (true ones succeed and false ones fail) and how this helps to understand natural language.

Author : Wesley C. Salmon
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780198026822
Total Pages : 454 pages
Book Rating : 4.2X/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Causality and Explanation written by Wesley C. Salmon and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1998-01-22 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For over two decades Wesley Salmon has helped to shape the course of debate in philosophy of science. He is a major contributor to the philosophical discussion of problems associated with causality and the author of two influential books on scientific explanation. This long-awaited volume collects twenty- six of Salmon's essays, including seven that have never before been published and others difficult to find. Part I comprises five introductory essays that presuppose no formal training in philosophy of science and form a background for subsequent essays. Parts II and III contain Salmon's seminal work on scientific explanation and causality. Part IV offers survey articles that feature advanced material but remain accessible to those outside philosophy of science. Essays in Part V address specific issues in particular scientific disciplines, namely, archaeology and anthropology, astrophysics and cosmology, and physics. Clear, compelling, and essential, this volume offers a superb introduction to philosophy of science for nonspecialists and belongs on the bookshelf of all who carry out work in this exciting field. Wesley Salmon is renowned for his seminal contributions to the philosophy of science. He has powerfully and permanently shaped discussion of such issues as lawlike and probabilistic explanation and the interrelation of explanatory notions to causal notions. This unique volume brings together twenty-six of his essays on subjects related to causality and explanation, written over the period 1971-1995. Six of the essays have never been published before and many others have only appeared in obscure venues. The volume includes a section of accessible introductory pieces, as well as more advanced and technical pieces, and will make essential work in the philosophy of science readily available to both scholars and students.

Author : James H. Fetzer
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0195352912
Total Pages : 384 pages
Book Rating : 4.17/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Science, Explanation, and Rationality written by James H. Fetzer and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2000-12-07 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Carl G. Hempel exerted greater influence upon philosophers of science than any other figure during the 20th century. In this far-reaching collection, distinguished philosophers contribute valuable studies that illuminate and clarify the central problems to which Hempel was devoted. The essays enhance our understanding of the development of logical empiricism as the major intellectual influence for scientifically-oriented philosophers and philosophically-minded scientists of the 20th century.

Author : Joseph Keim Campbell
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262033631
Total Pages : 335 pages
Book Rating : 4.33/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Causation and Explanation written by Joseph Keim Campbell and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leading scholars discuss the development and application of theories of causation and explanation, offering a state-of-the-art view of current work on these two topics.

Author : Dennis Dieks
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 9400711808
Total Pages : 525 pages
Book Rating : 4.08/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Explanation, Prediction, and Confirmation written by Dennis Dieks and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2011-03-24 with total page 525 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume, the second in the Springer series Philosophy of Science in a European Perspective, contains selected papers from the workshops organised by the ESF Research Networking Programme PSE (The Philosophy of Science in a European Perspective) in 2009. Five general topics are addressed: 1. Formal Methods in the Philosophy of Science; 2. Philosophy of the Natural and Life Sciences; 3. Philosophy of the Cultural and Social Sciences; 4. Philosophy of the Physical Sciences; 5. History of the Philosophy of Science. This volume is accordingly divided in five sections, each section containing papers coming from the meetings focussing on one of these five themes. However, these sections are not completely independent and detached from each other. For example, an important connecting thread running through a substantial number of papers in this volume is the concept of probability: probability plays a central role in present-day discussions in formal epistemology, in the philosophy of the physical sciences, and in general methodological debates---it is central in discussions concerning explanation, prediction and confirmation. The volume thus also attempts to represent the intellectual exchange between the various fields in the philosophy of science that was central in the ESF workshops.

Author : Harold Whiting
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.13/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Principles and methods. Notes and explanations for the use of students. Mathematical and physical tables written by Harold Whiting and published by . This book was released on 1891 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Richard Bevan Braithwaite
Publisher : CUP Archive
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 396 pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

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Download or read book Scientific Explanation a Study of the Function of Theroy, Probability and Law in Science written by Richard Bevan Braithwaite and published by CUP Archive. This book was released on with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Johannes Persson
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 1402055811
Total Pages : 225 pages
Book Rating : 4.12/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Rethinking Explanation written by Johannes Persson and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-05-16 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The nature of scientific explanation has been an important topic in philosophy of science for many years. This book highlights some of the conceptual problems that still need to be solved and points out a number of fresh philosophical ideas to explore.