Philosophy and the Sciences for Everyone

by Michela Massimi (Editor)

What is the origin of our universe? What are dark matter and dark energy? What is our role in the universe as human beings capable of knowledge? What makes us intelligent cognitive agents seemingly endowed with consciousness? Scientific research across both the physical and cognitive sciences raises fascinating philosophical questions. Philosophy and the Sciences For Everyone introduces these questions and more. It begins by asking what good is philosophy for the sciences before examining the following Each chapter includes an introduction, summary and study questions and there is a glossary of technical terms. Designed to be used on the corresponding Philosophy and the Sciences online course offered by the University of Edinburgh this book is also a superb introduction to central topics in philosophy of science and popular science.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Science

164 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2014

Reviews

[Fasi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is based on the course on the philosophy of science offered by university of edinburg. The book has two parts with first four chapters covering the philosophy of physics and the rest dealing with neurosciences.

It is very good read if one wants to know about what kinds of philosophical problems exist in science. it covers all the main thoughts that are their regarding the philosophy of science and then compare them to the current issues in sciences specially the problem of theory choice. The focus of the first part is the philosophical problems in cosmology as we have competing theories to deal with certain kind of problems but not enough evidence to choose between them - something known as underdetermination of a theory by experiment.

I have read only the first half of the book as that is what i was looking for and was related to my area of interest and i must say it was really well written and the presentation was really nice. Highly recommended for someone who want to take a quick look into the philosophy of physics. it covers all the main philosophical thoughts of the past like those of Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, Pierre Duhem, Quine etc..

[Mayowa Adebiyi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stuck between oversimplification and cramming too much, over too little a space. Multiple contributors, so needed a great Editor, not sure this had one at all.