Knowledge and Reference in Empirical Science

by Jody Azzouni

Overview

Knowledge and Reference in Empirical Science is a fascinating study of the bounds between science and language: in what sense, and of what, does science provide knowledge? Is science an instrument only distantly related to what's real? Can the language of science be used to adequately describe the truth?

In this book, Jody Azziouni investigates the technology of science - the actual forging and exploiting of causal links, between ourselves and what we endeavor to know and understand.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781134593422
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/15/2013
Series:	International Library of Philosophy
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	16 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Jody Azzouni is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University. He is the author of Metaphysical Myths, Mathematical Practice: The Ontology and Epistemology of the Exact Sciences.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Procedural Foundationalism; Chapter 1 Introduction to Part I; Chapter 2 Program and Scope; Chapter 3 Reductionism, Confirmation Holism, Theoretical Deductivism; Chapter 4 Some Observations on Reductionism and the “Autonomy” of the Special Sciences; Chapter 5 Some Comments on the Philosophical Implications of the use of Idealizations in Science; Chapter 6 Gross Regularities; Chapter 7 Procedures and Perceptual Procedures; Chapter 8 Shedding Perceptual Procedures; Chapter 9 Conclusion to Part I; Part 2 Two-Tiered Coherentism; Chapter 10 Introduction to Part II; Chapter 11 Evidential Centrality; Chapter 12 OB-Similar Extensions and OB*-Similar Extensions; Chapter 13 OB-Similarity, Observational Regularities, Reasons for Incommensurability; Chapter 14 Kuhnian Considerations and the Accumulation of Knowledge; Chapter 15 Perceptual Impermeability and Biotechnical Incommensurability; Chapter 16 Methodological Observations about Epistemology, Scepticism, and Truth; Part 3 Permuting Reference; Chapter 17 Introduction to Part III; Chapter 18 Formal Considerations; Chapter 19 Quine’s Version; Chapter 20 ), I don’t know if Field still holds the views of his publication, where I draw his argument from.Field () apparently responds to an unpublished earlier version of Wallace (), where a permutation argument is also presented. But I’m concerned only with how Field () uses permutations to support his conventionalist thesis.; Chapter 21 Putnam’s Version; Chapter 22 The Ontological Status of Causality; Chapter 23 Some Puzzles about Reference; Chapter 24 Conclusion to Part III; Part 4 The Transcendence of Reference; Chapter 25 Introduction to Part IV; Chapter 26 Troubles for Naive Naturalism; Chapter 27 The Elusivity of Reference; Chapter 28 Causality and Reference; Chapter 29 Transcending Procedures; Chapter 30 Transcendence and its Discontents;

Editorial Reviews

Haunting the bounds between science and language, Azzouni (philosophy, Tufts U.) explores in what sense science provides knowledge; whether it is to be taken literally; whether it is an instrument only distantly related to reality; and whether the language of science can be used to describe the truth adequately. He begins by investigating the technology of science as actually forging and exploiting causal links between people and what they endeavor to refer to and know. He challenges notions that scientific laws can be at best only approximate and at worst wrong. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

"This work is like a breath of fresh air. It is a very original, cogently argued study of the differences between what we do and what we say, as that difference bears on crucial isues in the philosophy of science, mathematics, language, as well as epistemology and metaphysics. The unity of view that is achieved across these philosophical areas is truly impressive." - Arnold Koslow, CUNY, USA

From the Publisher