ISBN:
9789400727595
,
1280798602
,
9781280798603
Language:
English
Pages:
Online-Ressource (X, 372p. 34 illus, digital)
Series Statement:
Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science 292
Series Statement:
SpringerLink
Series Statement:
Bücher
Parallel Title:
Buchausg. u.d.T. Characterizing the robustness of science
Keywords:
Philosophy (General)
;
Science (General)
;
Science History
;
Biology Philosophy
;
Science Philosophy
;
Technology Philosophy
;
Philosophy
;
Philosophy (General)
;
Science (General)
;
Science History
;
Biology Philosophy
;
Science Philosophy
;
Technology Philosophy
;
Science
;
Philosophy
;
Aufsatzsammlung
;
Wissenschaft
;
Robustheit
;
Reliabilität
;
Wissenschaftsphilosophie
Abstract:
William Wimsatt
Abstract:
Mature sciences have been long been characterized in terms of the 'successfulness', 'reliability' or 'trustworthiness' of their theoretical, experimental or technical accomplishments. Today many philosophers of science talk of 'robustness', often without specifying in a precise way the meaning of this term. This lack of clarity is the cause of frequent misunderstandings, since all these notions, and that of robustness in particular, are connected to fundamental issues, which concern nothing less than the very nature of science and its specificity with respect to other human practices, the nature of rationality and of scientific progress; and science's claim to be a truth-conducive activity. This book offers for the first time a comprehensive analysis of the problem of robustness, and in general, that of the reliability of science, based on several detailed case studies and on philosophical essays inspired by the so-called practical turn in philosophy of science.
Description / Table of Contents:
Contents; Contributors; 1 Introduction: The Solidity of Scientific Achievements: Structure of the Problem, Difficulties, Philosophical Implications; 1.1 Robustness. . . That Is to Say?; 1.2 Solidity, a Relational Status: Between Holism and Modularity; 1.3 Counting and Weighing the Arrows of a Solidity Scheme; 1.4 Solidity, a Status That Comes in Degrees; 1.5 Arrows-Node Schemes of Solidity and Scientific Practices; 1.6 1.6 About the Nature of the X Appearing in the Judgment 'X Is Solid'; 1.6.1 Solidity of the Nodes; 1.6.2 Solidity of the Arrows
Description / Table of Contents:
1.7 From the Pyramidal-Foundational Model to the Holistic-Symbiotic Model, and Back1.7.1 A Thought Experiment Playing with the Solidity Values of the Elements of a Robustness Scheme; 1.7.2 What Hides the Holistic-Symbiotic Working of a Robustness Scheme in a Given Historical Configuration; 1.7.3 Structural Homologies and Substantial Differences Between the Robustness Analysis of Real-Time Scientific Practices and Retrospective Consideration of Past Science; 1.8 Independent Derivations . . . In What Sense?; 1.8.1 Content (or Logico-semantic) Independence; 1.8.2 Building an Independence Scale
Description / Table of Contents:
1.8.3 Historical (or Empirico-genetic) Independence1.8.4 Robustness, Historical Dependency, Scientific Realism and Contingentism; 1.9 Sequential Overview of the Contents of This Book; 1.9.1 Chapters 2 and 3: Wimsatt on Robustness, Past and Present; 1.9.2 Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8: Case Studies of the Robustness of a Single Node; 1.9.3 Chapter 9: A Systematic Panoramic Analysis of the Robustness Notion; 1.9.4 Chapters 10 and 11: The Solidity of Derivations; 1.9.5 Chapters 12, 13 and 14: Robustness, Scope, and Realism; References; 2 Robustness, Reliability, and Overdetermination (1981)
Description / Table of Contents:
2.1 Common Features of Concepts of Robustness2.2 Robustness and the Structure of Theories; 2.3 Robustness, Testability, and the Nature of Theoretical Terms; 2.4 Robustness, Redundancy, and Discovery; 2.5 Robustness, Objectification, and Realism; 2.6 Robustness and Levels of Organization; 2.7 Heuristics and Robustness; 2.8 Robustness, Independence, and Pseudorobustness: A Case Study; References; 3 Robustness: Material, and Inferential, in the Natural and Human Sciences; 3.1 Robustness Introduced: Historical Background and Stage Setting; 3.2 Material Robustness
Description / Table of Contents:
3.3 A Central Biological Example: How Is Sex Possible?3.4 Qualifications on Robustness; 3.5 Robustness and Entrenchment; References; 4 Achieving Robustness to Confirm Controversial Hypotheses: A Case Study in Cell Biology; 4.1 Introduction; 4.2 Theoretical Background of Endocytosis; 4.3 Some Recent Findings Concerning Clathrin-Mediated Endocytosis and the Conflict with the Dominant Views; 4.4 The Experimental Strategies Implemented to Achieve Robustness: A Type of Robustness Scheme and Its Peculiar Features; 4.5 Conclusions: Robustness As a Methodological Attractor; References
Description / Table of Contents:
5 Multiple Derivability and the Reliability and Stabilization of Theories
Note:
Description based upon print version of record
DOI:
10.1007/978-94-007-2759-5
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