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Worldviews
An Introduction to the History and Philosophy of Science
Richard DeWitt (Author)
9781119118893, Wiley
Paperback / softback, published 11 May 2018
384 pages
24.9 x 17.5 x 3.8 cm, 0.59 kg
Winner of the 2018 Choice Award for Outstanding Academic Title! "This is a brilliantly clear introduction (and indeed reframing) of the history and philosophy of science in terms of worldviews and their elements…. In addition, the book is incredibly well-informed from both a scientific and philosophical angle. Highly recommended." "Unlike many other introductions to philosophy of science, DeWitt's book is at once historically informative and philosophically thorough and rigorous. Chapter notes, suggested readings, and references enhance its value." "Written in clear and comprehensible prose and supplemented by effective diagrams and examples, Worldviews is an ideal text for anyone new to the history and philosophy of science. As the reader will come to find out, DeWitt is a gifted writer with the unique ability to break down complex and technical concepts into digestible parts, making Worldviews a welcoming and not overwhelming book for the introductory reader." Now in its third edition, Worldviews: An Introduction to the History and Philosophy of Science strengthens its reputation as the most accessible and teachable introduction to the history and philosophy of science on the market. Geared toward engaging undergraduates and those approaching the history and philosophy of science for the first time, this intellectually-provocative volume takes advantage of its author's extensive teaching experience, parsing complex ideas using straightforward and sensible examples drawn from the physical sciences. Building on the foundations which earned the book its critical acclaim, author Richard DeWitt considers fundamental issues in the philosophy of science through the historical worldviews that influenced them, charting the evolution of Western science through the rise and fall of dominant systems of thought. Chapters have been updated to include discussion of recent findings in quantum theory, general relativity, and evolutionary theory, and two new chapters exclusive to the third edition enrich its engagement with radical developments in contemporary science. At a time in modern history when the nature of truth, fact, and reality seem increasingly controversial, the third edition of Worldviews presents complex concepts with clarity and verve, and prepares inquisitive minds to engage critically with some of the most exciting questions in the philosophy of science.
PRAISE FOR PREVIOUS EDITIONS
Scientific and Medical Network
Choice
History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, vol. 28(2)
List of Figures xv Introduction 1 Part I: Fundamental Issues 5 1 Worldviews 7 2 Truth 17 3 Empirical Facts and Philosophical/Conceptual Facts 31 4 Confirming and Disconfirming Evidence and Reasoning 36 5 The Quine–Duhem Thesis and Implications for Scientific Method 43 6 A Philosophical Interlude: Problems and Puzzles of Induction 54 7 Falsifiability 61 8 Instrumentalism and Realism 66 Part II: The Transition from the Aristotelian Worldview to the Newtonian Worldview 73 9 The Structure of the Universe on the Aristotelian Worldview 75 10 The Preface to Ptolemy's Almagest: The Earth as Spherical, Stationary, and at the Center of the Universe 81 11 Astronomical Data: The Empirical Facts 92 12 Astronomical Data: The Philosophical/Conceptual Facts 99 13 The Ptolemaic System 106 14 The Copernican System 115 15 The Tychonic System 125 16 Kepler's System 128 17 Galileo and the Evidence from the Telescope 138 18 A Summary of Problems Facing the Aristotelian Worldview 154 19 Philosophical and Conceptual Connections in the Development of the New Science 159 20 Overview of the New Science and the Newtonian Worldview 164 21 Philosophical Interlude: What Is a Scientific Law? 171 22 The Development of the Newtonian Worldview, 1700–1900 179 Part III: Recent Developments In Science and Worldviews 191 23 The Special Theory of Relativity 193 24 The General Theory of Relativity 211 25 Philosophical Interlude: Are (Some) Scientific Theories Incommensurable? 219 26 Introduction to Quantum Theory: Basic Empirical Facts and the Mathematics of Quantum Theory 230 27 The Reality Question: The Measurement Problem and Interpretations of Quantum Theory 248 28 Quantum Theory and Locality: EPR, Bell's Theorem, and the Aspect Experiments 272 29 Overview of the Theory of Evolution 286 30 Reflections on Evolution 300 31 Worldviews: Concluding Thoughts 320 References 349
Acknowledgments xix
Aristotle's Beliefs and the Aristotelian Worldview 7
Aristotle's beliefs 8
The Aristotelian worldview 12
The Newtonian Worldview 12
Concluding Remarks 13
Evidence 13
Common sense 14
Preliminary Issues 17
Clarifying the Question 18
Correspondence Theories of Truth 19
Coherence Theories of Truth 20
Different versions of coherence theories 20
Problems/Puzzles about Correspondence Theories of Truth 22
Assessing the accuracy of representations 23
The Total Recall scenario 24
A word of caution 26
Problems/Puzzles for Coherence Theories of Truth 26
Philosophical Reflections: Descartes and the Cogito 28
Concluding Remarks 29
Preliminary Observations 31
A Note on Terminology 34
Concluding Remarks 34
Confirmation Reasoning 36
Disconfirmation Reasoning 37
Inductive and Deductive Reasoning 37
Concluding Remarks 42
The Quine–Duhem Thesis 43
Bodies of beliefs and the tribunal of experience 44
Crucial experiments 45
The underdetermination of theories 46
Implications for Scientific Method 47
Aristotle's axiomatic approach 48
Descartes' axiomatic approach 51
Popper's falsificationism 51
The hypothetico-deductive method 52
Concluding Remarks 53
Hume's Problem of Induction 54
Hempel's Raven Paradox 57
Goodman's Gruesome Problem 59
Concluding Remarks 60
Basic Ideas 61
Complicating Factors 62
Concluding Remarks 64
Prediction and Explanation 66
Instrumentalism and Realism 67
Concluding Remarks 70
The Physical Structure of the Universe 75
Conceptual Beliefs about the Universe 77
Concluding Remarks 80
The Earth as Spherical 82
The Earth as Stationary 84
Common-sense arguments 84
The argument from objects in motion 86
The argument from stellar parallax 88
The Earth as the Center of the Universe 90
Concluding Remarks 91
The Movement of the Stars 93
The Movement of the Sun 94
The Movement of the Moon 95
The Movement of the Planets 95
Concluding Remarks 98
A Scientific Problem with the Motion of the Heavenly Bodies 99
Three cautionary notes 102
Could This Account Be Used for a Moving Earth? 103
Concluding Remarks 104
Background Information 106
A Brief Description of the Components of Ptolemy's Treatment of Mars 107
The Rationale behind These Components 108
Concluding Remarks 114
Background Information 115
Overview of the Copernican System 116
Comparison of the Ptolemaic and Copernican Systems 117
Respecting the facts 117
Complexity 118
Retrograde motion and other more "natural" explanations 118
From a realist standpoint, which system is the more plausible model of the universe? 120
What Motivated Copernicus? 121
Neoplatonism 121
Copernicus' commitment to uniform, circular movement 122
The Reception of the Copernican Theory 123
Concluding Remarks 124
Background Information 128
Tycho Brahe's empirical observations 128
Tycho and Kepler 129
Kepler's System 130
What Motivated Kepler? 131
Kepler's desire to read the mind of God 132
Concluding Remarks 136
Background Information 138
Galileo and the Catholic church 138
A note on the nature of the evidence from the telescope 139
Galileo's Evidence from the Telescope 141
Mountains on the moon 141
Sunspots 142
The rings, or "ears," of Saturn 142
The moons of Jupiter 143
The phases of Venus 144
The stars 148
The Reception of Galileo's Discoveries 148
Falsifiability issues 149
Concluding Remarks 152
Problems for the Aristotelian Worldview 154
The Need for a New Science 157
Concluding Remarks 157
A word of caution 158
The Size of the Universe 159
Concluding Remarks 162
The New Science 164
The three laws of motion 165
Universal gravitation 165
Overview of the Newtonian Worldview 166
Philosophical Reflections: Instrumentalist and Realist Attitudes Toward Newton's Concept of Gravity 168
Concluding Remarks 170
Scientific Laws 171
Common features associated with scientific laws 172
Exceptionless regularities 174
Counterfactuals 174
Context dependence 176
Ceteris paribus clauses 177
Concluding Remarks 178
Remarks on the Development of the Major Branches of Science, 1700–1900 179
Chemistry 180
Biology 181
Electromagnetic theory 182
General comments 184
Minor Clouds 184
The Michelson–Morley experiment 184
Black body radiation 187
Other issues 188
Concluding Remarks 190
Absolute Space and Absolute Time 193
Overview of the Special Theory of Relativity 195
The Irresistible Why Question 201
Is Special Relativity Self-Contradictory? 201
What about their disagreements on what the other clocks read? 204
From Joe's point of view 205
From Sara's point of view 205
Spacetime, Invariants, and the Geometrical Approach to Relativity 206
Concluding Remarks 210
Basic Principles 211
The Einstein Field Equations and Predictions of General Relativity 213
Philosophical Reflections: General Relativity and Gravity 217
Concluding Remarks 218
Preliminary Considerations 219
Exploring Incommensurability 221
Terminological incommensurability 222
Methodological incommensurability 224
Different worlds incommensurability 226
Discussion: Incommensurability and Scientific Progress 227
Concluding Remarks 229
Facts, Theory, and Interpretation 230
The quantum facts 231
Quantum theory itself 231
Interpretations of quantum theory 232
Some Quantum Facts 232
A brief excursion into a reality issue 233
Four experiments 235
Overview of the Mathematics of Quantum Theory 239
Descriptive overview of the mathematics of quantum theory 239
If the mathematics of quantum theory is a familiar sort of wave mathematics, why do we often hear that quantum theory is such an unusual theory? 240
A somewhat more detailed, but still descriptive, overview of the mathematics of quantum theory 242
The evolution of states over time 247
Concluding Remarks 247
The Measurement Problem 248
What is a measurement? 248
The role of measurement in Newtonian science 250
The role of measurement in quantum theory 250
Schrödinger's cat 253
The Measurement Problem 255
Subjectivity vs. objectivity 255
Measurement contexts vs. nonmeasurement contexts 256
System vs. apparatus; macroscopic vs. microscopic levels 256
Universality 257
Concluding thoughts on the measurement problem 258
Interpretations of Quantum Theory 258
Collapse interpretations 259
Mild measurement-dependent reality 261
Moderate measurement-dependent reality 262
Radical measurement-dependent reality (consciousness-dependent reality) 262
Non-collapse interpretations 263
Einstein's realism 263
Bohm's realism 265
The many-worlds interpretation 267
Observations on the interpretations of quantum theory 268
Concluding Remarks 271
Background Information 272
The EPR Thought Experiment 273
The argument for (1) 275
Bell's Theorem 276
Aspect's Experiments 280
Locality, Nonlocality, and Spooky Action at a Distance 281
Concluding Remarks 285
Overview of the Basics of Evolutionary Theory 286
Darwin's and Wallace's discovery: Evolution by natural selection 286
A brief overview of evolutionary theory since Darwin and Wallace 288
A word of caution 292
Darwin's and Wallace's Paths to Natural Selection 293
The development of Darwin's views 293
The development of Wallace's views 296
Darwin's On the Origin of Species 297
The reception of the Origin of Species 299
Concluding Remarks 299
Implications for Religion 300
Dennett, Dawkins, Weinberg, and others: "no" 301
Haught, process philosophy, and process theology 302
Discussion 305
Morality and Ethics 307
Empirical Studies 310
The iterated prisoner's dilemma 310
The ultimatum game 313
Additional notes on cooperation and altruism 315
The trust game 316
Concluding Remarks 318
Overview 320
Reflections on Relativity Theory 322
Reflections on Quantum Theory 324
Reflections on Evolutionary Theory 325
Metaphors 326
Chapter Notes and Suggested Reading 329
Index 357
Subject Areas: Philosophy [HP]
