212 Pages
by
Routledge
210 Pages
by
Routledge
216 Pages
by
Routledge
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Realism is an enlightening story, a tale which enriches our experience and makes it more intelligible. Yet this wonderful picture of humanity's best efforts at knowledge has been badly bruised by numerous critics. James Robert Brown in Smoke and Mirrors fights back against figures such as Richard Rorty, Bruno Latour, Michael Ruse and Hilary Putnam who have attacked realist accounts of science.... Read more
Preface, Acknowledgements, I. Introduction, 1. Explaining the success of science, II. Smoke, 2. Rorty’s Solidarity, 3. Latour’s prosaic science, 4. The naturalism of Ruse, 5. Putnam’s verification, III. Mirrors, 6. Knowledge—in the abstract, 7. Phenomena, 8. What is the vector potential?, 9. Proof and truth in the abstract realm, Bibliography, Index
Biography
James Robert Brown is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. His research interests include the philosophy of mathematics, foundations of physics, social relations of science, and thought experiments, as well as more general issues in the philosophy of science. He is the author of two earlier books: The Rational and the Social and The Laboratory of the Mind which are both available from Routledge.
'This spirited and readable contribution to the debates over scientific realism would serve splendidly as the core of an introduction to the philosophy of science.' - J.B. Kennedy, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science
