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It is often supposed that the spectacular successes of our modern mathematical sciences support a lofty vision of a world completely ordered by one single elegant theory. In this book Nancy Cartwright argues to the contrary. When we draw our image of the world from the way modern science works - as empiricism teaches us we should - we end up with a world where some features are precisely ordered, others are given to rough regularity and still others behave in their own diverse ways. This patchwork makes sense when we realise that laws are very special productions of nature, requiring very special arrangements for their generation. Combining classic and newly written essays on physics and economics, The Dappled World carries important philosophical consequences and offers serious lessons for both the natural and the social sciences.
| ISBN | 0521644119 | | DEWEY edition | DC21 | | ISBN13 | 9780521644112
(What's this?) | | Pages | 260 | | Publisher | Cambridge University Press | | Volumes | 1 | | Imprint | Cambridge University Press | | Weight (grammes) | 390 | | Format | Paperback | | Published in | Cambridge | | Publication date | 23 Sep 1999 | | Height (mm) | 228 | | Non-book description | ix, 247 p. ; | | Width (mm) | 152 | | Library of Congress | Q175 .C37 1999 | | Spine width (mm) | 15 | | DEWEY | 501 | | Academic level | Tertiary education, Professional / Scholarly |
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| | | Acknowledgements | | | | | | Introduction | | 1 | | Pt. I | | Where do laws of nature come from? | | 21 | | 1 | | Fundamentalism versus the patchwork of laws | | 23 | | 2 | | Fables and models | | 35 | | 3 | | Nomological machines and the laws they produce | | 69 | | Pt. II | | Laws and their limits | | 75 | | | | The laws we test in physics | | | | 4 | | Aristotelian natures and the modern experimental method | | 77 | | | | Causal laws | | | | 5 | | Causal diversity; causal stability | | 104 | | | | Current economic theory | | | | 6 | | Ceteris paribus laws and socio-economic machines | | 137 | | | | Probabilistic laws | | | | 7 | | Probability machines: chance set-ups and economic models | | 152 | | Pt. III | | The boundaries of quantum and classical physics and the territories they share | | 177 | | 8 | | How bridge principles set the domain of quantum theory | | 179 | | 9 | | How quantum and classical theories relate | | 211 | | | | Bibliography | | 234 | | | | Index | | 242 |
'Written with a literary sensitivity, knocks numerous nails square on the head ... provides a wonderful antidote to the abundant quack-medicine views of what science is and an excellent example of progress in philosophical thought.' Times Higher Education Supplement  Be the first to write a customer review
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