Knowledge And Reference In Empirical Science (international Library Of Philosophy)

KNOWLEDGE AND REFERENCE IN EMPIRICAL SCIENCE 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 it to be taken literally? Is science an instrument only distantly related to what’s real? Can the language of science be used to adequately describe the truth? Jody Azzouni approaches these questions through a compelling analysis of the “reference” of kind terms. The book begins by investigating the technology of science— the actual forging and exploiting of causal links, between us and what we endeavor to refer to and know. It shows how this technology allows for knowledge gathering, why scientific lore must be regarded as true and in what ways instrumental access to our universe is anchored in observation. The second part of the book studies the language of science and shows how this flexible tool enables us to transform our fragmented investigations of the world into a unitary and seamless discourse. Azzouni proposes that scientific language does allow us to speak of what’s true and so he questions influential views which take scientific laws to be at best only approximate, or even false. Central to the book is the author’s support of semantic naturalism—a program of showing that the resources of our language do not conflict with the scientific picture of us as animals. This not only illuminates concerns in the philosophy of language, but also sheds new light on the role of holism and deduction in science. 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. INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY OF PHILOSOPHY Edited by José Bermúdez, Tim Crane and Peter Sullivan Advisory Board Jonathan Barnes Fred Dretske Frances Kamm Brian Leiter Huw Price Sydney Shoemaker Recent titles in the ILP: PERSONAL IDENTITY AND SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS Brian Garrett THE SCEPTICAL CHALLENGE Ruth Weintraub DISPOSITIONS: A DEBATE D.M.Armstrong, C.B.Martin and U.T.Place Edited by Tim Crane PSYCHOLOGY FROM AN EMPIRICAL STANDPOINT Franz Brentano G.E.MOORE: SELECTED WRITINGS G.E.Moore Edited by Thomas Baldwin THE FACTS OF CAUSATION D.H.Mellor REAL TIME II D.H.Mellor THE CONCEPTUAL ROOTS OF MATHEMATICS J.R.Lucas STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS Barry Dainton KNOWLEDGE AND REFERENCE IN EMPIRICAL SCIENCE Jody Azzouni REASON WITHOUT FREEDOM David Owen KNOWLEDGE AND REFERENCE IN EMPIRICAL SCIENCE Jody Azzouni London and New York First published 2000 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge's collection of thousand of eBook please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 2000 Jody Azzouni All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British