Scientific Method

by Barry S. Gower

The central theme running throughout this outstanding new survey is the nature of the philosophical debate created by modern science's foundation in experimental and mathematical method. More recently, recognition that reasoning in science is probabilistic generated intense debate about whether and how it should be constrained so as to ensure the practical certainty of the conclusions drawn. These debates brought to light issues of a philosophical nature which form the core of many scientific controversies today. Scientific A Historical and Philosophical Introduction presents these debates through clear and comparative discussion of key figures in the history of science. Key chapters critically discuss
* Galileo's demonstrative method, Bacon's inductive method, and Newton's rules of reasoning
* the rise of probabilistic `Bayesian' methods in the eighteenth century
* the method of hypotheses through the work of Herschel, Mill and Whewell
* the conventionalist views of Poincaré and Duhem
* the inductivism of Peirce, Russell and Keynes
* Popper's falsification compared with Reichenbach's enumerative induction
* Carnap's scientific method as Bayesian reasoning

The debates are brought up to date in the final chapters by considering the ways in which ideas about method in the physical and biological sciences have affected thinking about method in the social sciences. This debate is analyzed through the ideas of key theorists such as Kuhn, Lakatos, and Feyerabend.

Genres: Philosophy, Science

288 pages, Hardcover

First published December 10, 1996

Reviews

[Ivana Zakova]

Barry Gower has a special talent to write a book about such interesting topics and make it so painful to read. Sentences over six lines, choices of the “most intellectual-sound-like words”, inconsistent flow of text (skipping back and forth).
I am not a native speaker of English language but as a PhD student I’ve read a lot in English. This book was a pain although I was very interested in the topic.

[Ian Pitchford]

Lovely discussion of the scientific method in historical context including a consideration of the perspectives of Galileo, Bacon, Newton, Bayes, Mill, Poincaré, Duhem, Popper, Carnap, Kuhn, Lakatos, and Feyerabend.