E-Book Overview
The essays in this volume address three fundamental questions in the philosophy of science: What is required for some fact to be evidence for a scientific hypothesis? What does it mean to say that a scientist or a theory explains a phenomenon? Should scientific theories that postulate "unobservable" entities such as electrons be construed realistically as aiming to correctly describe a world underlying what is directly observable, or should such theories be understood as aiming to correctly describe only the observable world? Distinguished philosopher of science Peter Achinstein provides answers to each of these questions in essays written over a period of more than 40 years. The present volume brings together his important previously published essays, allowing the reader to confront some of the most basic and challenging issues in the philosophy of science, and to consider Achinstein's many influential contributions to the solution of these issues. He presents a theory of evidence that relates this concept to probability and explanation; a theory of explanation that relates this concept to an explaining act as well as to the different ways in which explanations are to be evaluated; and an empirical defense of scientific realism that invokes both the concept of evidence and that of explanation.
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Evidence, Explanation, and Realism
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Evidence, Explanation, and Realism Essays in the Philosophy of Science Peter Achinstein
2010
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Copyright © 2010 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Achinstein, Peter. Evidence, explanation, and realism : essays in the philosophy of science / Peter Achinstein. p. cm. ISBN 978-0-19-973525-9 1. Science—Philosophy. I. Title. Q175.A263 2010 501—dc22 2009029404
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Acknowledgments
This book is dedicated to my wife, Linda Brown, whose deep care, loving encouragement, and philosophical acumen sustained me and the project. I have been most fortunate over the years in directing the work of graduate students with very considerable talent, some of whom honor me by showing how to employ various ideas of mine in new areas, others by arguing that such a task is for dreamers only. In any case, I want here to thank two of my favorites who have a special association with this book: Victor DiFate and Richard Richards. I invited both, who know my work well, to suggest various essays they would like to see in the volume. The lists of the three of us matched pretty closely. In addition I owe a good deal of thanks to Victor for invaluable help with the page proofs. Two other individuals deserve special appreciation: Peter Ohlin, philosophy editor at Oxford University Press, for suggesting this entire project to me, and Morton Lowengrub, Provost at Yeshiva University, for moral and financial support for