Philosophy of science

Since its origin in the early 20th century, the Modern Synthesis theory of evolution has grown to become the orthodox view on the process of organic evolution.

Does free will exist?

Does free will exist?

Daniel C.

The question of the proper role of metaphysics in philosophy of science is both significant and contentious.

For evolutionary biologists, the concept of chance has always played a significant role in the formation of evolutionary theory.

For evolutionary biologists, the concept of chance has always played a significant role in the formation of evolutionary theory.

Throughout history, humankind's working theories regarding the cause of infectious disease have shifted drastically, as cultures developed their philosophic, religious, and scientific beliefs.

Throughout history, humankind's working theories regarding the cause of infectious disease have shifted drastically, as cultures developed their philosophic, religious, and scientific beliefs.

The Shape of Thought: How Mental Adaptations Evolve presents a road map for an evolutionary psychology of the twenty-first century.

Joining the ancient debate over the roles of reason and appetite in the moral mind, In Praise of Desire takes the side of appetite.

This volume of original papers by a leading team of international scholars explores Isaac Newton's relation to a variety of empiricisms and empiricists.

In nine new essays, distinguished philosophers of science take on outstanding philosophical issues that arise in the exploration of the foundations of contemporary, especially physical scientific theories.

Paul Humphreys pioneered philosophical investigations into the methodological revolution begun by computer simulations.

While procreation is ubiquitous, attention to the ethical issues involved in creating children is relatively rare.

What are the methodologies for assessing and improving governmental policy in light of well-being?

What are the methodologies for assessing and improving governmental policy in light of well-being?

This volume contains six new and fifteen previously published essays -- plus a new introduction -- by Storrs McCall.

In Seeing Things, Robert Hudson assesses a common way of arguing about observation reports called "e;robustness reasoning.

Well-being, happiness and quality of life are now established objects of social and medical research.

The global reality of suffering and death has always demanded an authentic theological response and impelled debate concerning Gods relationship to suffering, as well as the conceivability of the suffering of God.

The biological and social sciences often generalize causal conclusions from one context or location to others that may differ in some relevant respects, as is illustrated by inferences from animal models to humans or from a pilot study to a broader population.

If a spinning disk casts a round shadow does this shadow also spin?

As past president of both the History of Science Society and the American Society of Church History, Ronald L.

Contemporary philosophers of mind tend to assume that the world of nature can be reduced to basic physics.

Modern science is big business.

In How Invention Begins, Lienhard reconciles the ends of invention with the individual leaps upon which they are built, illuminating the vast web of individual inspirations that lie behind whole technologies.

Mathias Frisch provides the first sustained philosophical discussion of conceptual problems in classical particle-field theories.

What is temperature, and how can we measure it correctly?

Universally recognized as bringing about a revolutionary transformation of the notions of space, time, and motion in physics, Einstein's theory of gravitation, known as "e;general relativity,"e; was also a defining event for 20th century philosophy of science.

The incredible achievements of modern scientific theories lead most of us to embrace scientific realism: the view that our best theories offer us at least roughly accurate descriptions of otherwise inaccessible parts of the world like genes, atoms, and the big bang.

Rachel Carson's Silent Spring antagonized some of the most powerful interests in the nation--including the farm block and the agricultural chemical industry--and helped launch the modern environmental movement.

This volume of contributed essays, a follow-up to Noretta Koertge's successful book on the science wars, A House Built on Sand, takes an affirming, positive view of the relationship between the values embodied in science, and the nature of a civil society.

In the last fifteen years a controversial new theory of the origins of biological complexity and the nature of the universe has been fomenting bitter debates in education and science policy across North America, Europe, and Australia.

Computational methods have become the dominant technique in many areas of science.

Forrest and Gross expose the scientific failure, the religious essence, and the political ambitions of "e;intelligent design"e; creationism.

In the past thirty years, two fundamental issues have emerged in the philosophy of science.

In Making Things Happen, James Woodward develops a new and ambitious comprehensive theory of causation and explanation that draws on literature from a variety of disciplines and which applies to a wide variety of claims in science and everyday life.

An excellent critical analysis and scientific assessment of the nature and actual level of risk leading environmental health hazards pose to the public.

This ambitious, interdisciplinary book seeks to explain the origins of religion using our knowledge of the evolution of cognition.

Mathematics and logic have been central topics of concern since the dawn of philosophy.

Robert Batterman examines a form of scientific reasoning called asymptotic reasoning, arguing that it has important consequences for our understanding of the scientific process as a whole.

Striving to boldly redirect the philosophy of science, this book by renowned philosopher Philip Kitcher examines the heated debate surrounding the role of science in shaping our lives.

As author of the bestselling Why People Believe Weird Things and How We Believe, and Editor-in-Chief of Skeptic magazine, Michael Shermer has emerged as the nation's number one scourge of superstition and bad science.

When the whole is greater than the sum of the parts--indeed, so great that the sum far transcends the parts and represents something utterly new and different--we call that phenomenon emergence.

Kant and the Sciences aims to reveal the deep unity of Kant's conception of science as it bears on the particular sciences of his day and on his conception of philosophy's function with respect to these sciences.

Classical physics states that physical reality is local--a point in space cannot influence another point beyond a relatively short distance.

This intellectual biography of Immanuel Kant's early years-- from 1746 when he wrote his first book, to 1766 when he lost his faith in metaphysics --makes an outstanding contribution to Kant scholarship.

City of Light tells the story of fiber optics, tracing its transformation from 19th-century parlor trick into the foundation of our global communications network.