Philosophy of science

Both the special sciences and ordinary experience suggest that there are metaphysically emergent entities and features: macroscopic goings-on (including mountains, trees, humans, and sculptures, and their characteristic properties) which depend on, yet are distinct from and distinctively efficacious with respect to, lower-level physical configurations and features.

The Great Silence explores the multifaceted problem named after the great Italian physicist Enrico Fermi and his legendary 1950 lunchtime question "e;Where is everybody?

The Great Silence explores the multifaceted problem named after the great Italian physicist Enrico Fermi and his legendary 1950 lunchtime question "e;Where is everybody?

Is human nature something that the natural and social sciences aim to describe, or is it a pernicious fiction?

Is human nature something that the natural and social sciences aim to describe, or is it a pernicious fiction?

One of the pillars of modern science, statistical mechanics, owes much to one man, the Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann (1844-1906).

Our understanding of human rationality has changed significantly since the beginning of the century, with growing emphasis being placed on multiple rationalities, each adapted to the specific tasks of communities of practice.

Our understanding of human rationality has changed significantly since the beginning of the century, with growing emphasis being placed on multiple rationalities, each adapted to the specific tasks of communities of practice.

Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring Philosophy of physics is concerned with the deepest theories of modern physics - notably quantum theory, our theories of space, time and symmetry, and thermal physics - and their strange, even bizarre conceptual implications.

Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring Philosophy of physics is concerned with the deepest theories of modern physics - notably quantum theory, our theories of space, time and symmetry, and thermal physics - and their strange, even bizarre conceptual implications.

Quantum theory is widely regarded as one of the most successful theories in the history of science.

Samir Okasha approaches evolutionary biology from a philosophical perspective in Agents and Goals in Evolution, analysing a mode of thinking in biology called agential thinking.

Samir Okasha approaches evolutionary biology from a philosophical perspective in Agents and Goals in Evolution, analysing a mode of thinking in biology called agential thinking.

How is that when scientists need some piece of mathematics through which to frame their theory, it is there to hand?

Metaphysics is sensitive to the conceptual tools we choose to articulate metaphysical problems.

Metaphysics is sensitive to the conceptual tools we choose to articulate metaphysical problems.

The problem of quantum gravity is often viewed as the most pressing unresolved problem of modern physics: our theories of spacetime and matter, described respectively by general relativity (Einstein's theory of gravitation and spacetime) and quantum mechanics (our best theory of matter and the other forces of nature) resist unification.

Mathematical and philosophical thought about continuity has changed considerably over the ages.

What is time?

What is time?

Psychological terms are widely used to describe the biological world: plants, insects, bacteria colonies, even single cells are described as making decisions, anticipating rewards, and communicating with language.

Our own body seems to be the object that we know the best for we constantly receive a flow of internal information about it.

Over the last forty years the philosophy of biology has emerged as an important sub-discipline of the philosophy of science.

Over the last forty years the philosophy of biology has emerged as an important sub-discipline of the philosophy of science.

Psychological terms are widely used to describe the biological world: plants, insects, bacteria colonies, even single cells are described as making decisions, anticipating rewards, and communicating with language.

Infinity is paradoxical in many ways.

Galileo Unbound traces the journey that brought us from Galileo's law of free fall to today's geneticists measuring evolutionary drift, entangled quantum particles moving among many worlds, and our lives as trajectories traversing a health space with thousands of dimensions.

Mark Wilson presents a series of explorations of our strategies for understanding the world.

A certain kind of talk is ubiquitous among both philosophers and so-called "e;ordinary people"e;: talk of one phenomenon generating or giving rise to another, or talk of one phenomenon being based in or constructed from another.

What human qualities are needed to make scientific discoveries, and which to make great art?

What human qualities are needed to make scientific discoveries, and which to make great art?

As we navigate through life we instinctively model time as having a flowing present that divides a fixed past from open future.

As we navigate through life we instinctively model time as having a flowing present that divides a fixed past from open future.

Ether and Modernity offers a snapshot of the status of an epistemic object, the "e;ether"e; (or "e;aether"e;), in the early twentieth century.

Ether and Modernity offers a snapshot of the status of an epistemic object, the "e;ether"e; (or "e;aether"e;), in the early twentieth century.

The Oxford Handbook of Descartes and Cartesianism comprises fifty specially written chapters on Rene Descartes (1596-1650) and Cartesianism, the dominant paradigm for philosophy and science in the seventeenth century, written by an international group of leading scholars of early modern philosophy.

The Oxford Handbook of Descartes and Cartesianism comprises fifty specially written chapters on Rene Descartes (1596-1650) and Cartesianism, the dominant paradigm for philosophy and science in the seventeenth century, written by an international group of leading scholars of early modern philosophy.

Causal powers are ubiquitous.

Causal powers are ubiquitous.

Ryan Wasserman presents a wide-ranging exploration of puzzles raised by the possibility of time travel, including the grandfather paradox, the bootstrapping paradox, and the twin paradox of special relativity.

Ryan Wasserman presents a wide-ranging exploration of puzzles raised by the possibility of time travel, including the grandfather paradox, the bootstrapping paradox, and the twin paradox of special relativity.

Model theory is used in every theoretical branch of analytic philosophy: in philosophy of mathematics, in philosophy of science, in philosophy of language, in philosophical logic, and in metaphysics.

Probability is increasingly important for our understanding of the world.

If the discovery of life elsewhere in the universe is just around the corner, what would be the consequences for religion?

If the discovery of life elsewhere in the universe is just around the corner, what would be the consequences for religion?

Intuitions may seem to play a fundamental role in philosophy: but their role and their value have been challenged recently.

Who are we, and how do we relate to each other?

Who are we, and how do we relate to each other?

Tim Lewens aims to understand what it means to take an evolutionary approach to cultural change, and why it is that this approach is often treated with suspicion.

A History of Mathematics: From Mesopotamia to Modernity covers the evolution of mathematics through time and across the major Eastern and Western civilizations.