Theo Todman's Book Collection (Book-Paper Abstracts)

BOOK ABSTRACT:

Back Cover Blurb

1. The most comprehensive anthology of its kind, Philosophy of Science: The Central Issues offers an exceptionally balanced introduction to the main currents in twentieth-century philosophy of science. Forty-nine articles and self-contained excerpts by Thomas S. Kuhn, Karl Popper, Carl G. Hempel, W. V. Quine, and other prominent philosophers survey the foundational questions in the field:
   • What distinguishes science from pseudoscience?
   • Is scientific change a rational process?
   • In what sense is science objective?
   • What are natural laws, and what do they describe?
   • Are scientific theories to be understood as offering a true account of the world?
   and others.
2. To help uninitiated readers navigate the sometimes challenging literature in the field, the editors of this collection provide unusually extensive apparatus. Brief introductions to the nine thematic sections sketch out the major issues addressed in the subsequent readings. Fair-minded and thorough commentaries following the readings discuss the selections in depth and draw connections to other pieces in the anthology; they also develop salient arguments, explain unfamiliar theories, and place the readings in a wider philosophical context. A bibliography, a glossary, and two indexes — one for subjects, the other for names — further enhance this volume's value as a reference.
3. About The Editors
   • Martin Curd is associate professor of philosophy at Purdue University. After taking a B.A. in natural sciences at Cambridge University, he studied history and philosophy of science at the University of Pittsburgh, where he received his Ph.D. His articles on a wide range of topics in philosophy of science and epistemology have been published in journals such as the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Ratio, and The Proceedings of the Philosophy of Science Association and have been reprinted in several anthologies, including Readings in the Philosophy of Science, Second Edition (Prentice Hall, 1989). He is co-author of Principles of Reasoning (St. Martin’s Press, 1989) and author of Argument and Analysis: An Introduction to Philosophy (West, 1992).
   • J. A. Cover is associate professor of philosophy at Purdue University. Leaving a research post after completing a B.S. in biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California, Davis, he took a B.A. at Syracuse University, where he later received his M.A. and Ph.D. His primary fields of research are early modern philosophy, metaphysics, and philosophy of science. His work on Leibniz, Spinoza, causation, space and time, and modality has appeared as book chapters and in numerous journals, including Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, Nous, Synthese, and Philosophical Studies. In addition, he is co-editor of Central Themes in Early Modern Philosophy (Hackett, 1990) and co-author of Theories of Knowledge and Reality: An Introduction to the Problems and Arguments of Philosophy, Second Edition (McGraw-Hill, 1994).