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Philosophy of Science websites | blogs | magazines | photo galleries | my books | notes for students | home |
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Looking for something else? Select material by subject by clicking the links below:
... and in the USA...
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Welcome to the Philosophy of Science selection in the Philosophy and Ethics site...
My Teach Yourself: Philosophy of Science gves a basic introduction to key issues, suitable for students and the general reader. It has now gone out of print, but there are plenty of secondhand copies available, and a new edition will be published in Summer 2012.
There is a chapter on Philosophy of Science in my TY: Philosophy, giving a brief historical overview, followed by an introduction to some key issues, and another in World Philosophy, which was written by Alexander Bird.
CERN - the most exciting place to be at the moment! A useful starting point for searching Philosophy of Science on the web is: www.trinity.edu/cbrown/science/links.html which has links to the Stanford Encyclopedia and many other websites.
For a really substantial anthology, giving a global view of the subject, try Blackwell's Philosophy of Science, edited by Marc Lange. A heavy book (literally) but packed with valuable articles from the last 50 years. Realism and the character of scientific theories, Scientific Theories and Laws of Nature, natural kinds, causation, probability, metaphysics - the range of issues covered is enormous. But don't always expect an easy read! For a very well written and clearly presented account of the way in which Philosophy addresses the key issues in science - including the relationship between science and philosophy and issues concerning scientific explanation, theories and models, along with questions of underdeterminism and probability, there is Philosophy of Science by Alex Rosenberg in Routledge's Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy series. Click the box on the left to buy in the UK, or to buy in the USA.
Other resources, for students at A level....
Controversial when it comes to all matters relating to religion (and incline to indulge in polemic rather than reason or evidence), I still think that, when it comes to an enthusiastic and brilliant exposition of science, Dawkins is the one to read. Unweaving the Rainbow was the book that, for me, demonstrated his enthusiasm at its best - showing that science need not preclude a sense of wonder at nature.
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As a warning against the assumption that present theories are the final word, here are two quotes from The Riddle of the Universe, by Ernst Haeckel, 1899.
‘The existence of ether (or cosmic ether) as a real element is a positive fact, and has been known as such for the last twelve years.’
‘ … all the particular advances in physics and chemistry yield in theoretical importance to the discovery of the great law which brings them to one common focus, the “Law of Substance.” As this fundamental cosmic law established the eternal persistence of matter and force, their unvarying constancy throughout the entire universe…’
And within a decade, Einstein would come and blow it all away!!
---- 'I was like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.' Isaac Newton ---
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All material on this site is © Mel Thompson unless otherwise attributed |
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