1st Edition

New Philosophical Perspectives on Scientific Progress

Edited By Yafeng Shan Copyright 2023
424 Pages 6 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

424 Pages 6 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

424 Pages 6 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This collection of original essays offers a comprehensive examination of scientific progress, which has been a central topic in recent debates in philosophy of science. Traditionally, debates over scientific progress have focused on different methodological approaches, notably the epistemic and semantic approaches. The chapters in Part I of the book examine these two traditional... Read more

Introduction: Philosophical Analyses of Scientific Progress Yafeng Shan

Part I: Main Philosophical Approaches

1. The Epistemic Approach: Scientific Progress as the Accumulation of Knowledge Alexander Bird

2. The Semantic Approach: Scientific Progress as Increased Truthlikeness Ilkka Niiniluoto

3. The Functional Approach: Scientific Progress as Increased Usefulness Yafeng Shan

4. The Noetic Approach: Scientific Progress as Enabling Understanding Finnur Dellsén

Part II: Historical Case Studies

5. Progress in Physics: A Modular Approach Olivier Darrigol

6. Progress in Chemistry: A Cumulative and Pluralist View Robin Findlay Hendry

7. Progress in Chemistry: Themes at the Macroscopic and Microscopic Levels Paul Needham

8. Epigenetic Inheritance and Progress in Modern Biology: A Developmental System Approach Eva Jablonka

9. Progress in Seismology: Turning Data into Evidence About the Earth’s Interior Teru Miyake

10. Progress in Psychology Uljana Feest

11. Progress in Sociology? Stephen Turner

12. Progress in Economics Marcel Boumans, Catherine Herfeld

13. Progress in Medicine and Medicines: Moving From Qualitative Experience to Commensurable Materialism Harold Cook

Part III: Related Issues

14. Scientific Progress and Scientific Realism David Harker

15. Scientific Progress and Incommensurability Eric Oberheim

16. Scientific Progress and Aesthetic Values Milena Ivanova

17. Scientific Progress and Idealisation Insa Lawler

18. Scientific Speculation and Evidential Progress Peter Achinstein

19. Scientific Progress and Interdisciplinarity Hanne Andersen

20. A Human Rights Approach to Scientific Progress: The Deontic Framework Michela Massimi.

Index

Biography

Yafeng Shan is Research Associate in Philosophy at the University of Kent. He is the author of Doing Integrated History and Philosophy of Science: A Case Study of the Origin of Genetics (2020) and the editor of Examining Philosophy Itself (2022).