Copernican Questions

This provocative, focused, and succinct new text addresses two issues integral to the study of the philosophy of science: the rationality of science and the realism question. Students are invited to think deeply about salient issues as they explore collections of cases and examples, beginning by considering the founding document of modern science, Copernicus's "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres", and including discussions of other key readings such as Thomas Kuhn's "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions". Author Keith Parsons challenges students' thinking, offering his own views while providing a solid foundation for debate.

ISBN 0072850205   Pages 192 ISBN13 9780072850208 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher McGraw-Hill Education - Europe   Weight (grammes) 229 Imprint McGraw Hill Higher Education   Published in London Format Paperback   Height (mm) 228 Publication date 01 Oct 2005   Width (mm) 149 Library of Congress 2005052216   Spine width (mm) 10 DEWEY 501   Academic level Tertiary education DEWEY edition DC22

Preface for Instructors Preface for Students Chapter One: Copernican Questions What Was Copernicus's Revolution? What Happens When Your World Changes? Copernican Questions: Rationality and Realism Further Readings for Chapter One Chapter Two: Is Science Really Rational? The Problem of Incommensurability Incommensurability of Standards Incommensurability of Values Incommensurability of Meaning Evaluating Meaning Incommensurability Conversion: A Concluding Case Study Further Readings for Chapter Two Chapter Three: A Walk on the Wild Side: Social Constructivism, Postmodernism, Feminism, and that Old-Time Religion The Constructivist Challenge Postmodernism Attacks! Is "Objectivity" What a Man Calls His Subjectivity? Is Science Godless? Further Readings for Chapter Three Chapter Four: Ascending the Slippery Slope: Scientific Progress and Truth The Evils of Whig History Social Constructivist History Does Science Converge towards Truth? Assessing Laudan's Critique of Convergent Realism Scientists' Own Realism Could We Be Wrong about Everything? Further Readings for Chapter Four Chapter Five: Truth or Consequences? Electrons: Real Particles or Convenient Fictions? Van Fraassen's Constructive Empiricism Do We Observe through Microscopes? But What about Things that Are Really Unobservable? So, What Really Is the Goal of Science? Further Readings for Chapter Five

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