The Grammar of Science - Couverture rigide

Pearson, Karl

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 1855061015 ISBN 13 : 9781855061019

Editeur : Thoemmes Continuum, 1992

Synopsis

The author's "Grammar of Science" is the first sustained exposition, in English, of Ernst Mach's sensationalism - a philosophy of science that was to exert a major influence on the development of logical positivism. Although the physical and biological sciences are in a flourishing condition, Pearson explains, there remains doubt and confusion about their foundations - in particular, concepts such as those of matter, force and natural law seem to lend themselves to confusions of a metaphysical character. Scientific laws, Pearson insists, are not accounts of the nature and properties of things-in-themselves; rather, they are mere descriptions - in a sort of conceptual shorthand - of the "routines" of our sensations. The atoms and the ether of the physicist are mere conceptual models, ie. human creations serving a valuable role in aiding our "economy of thought", only confusion can result if we regard them as realities. The clarification of science and the elimination of metaphysics can be seen as inseparable aspects of the same project.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

First published in 1892, this important work by the mathematician Karl Pearson (1857–1936) presents a thoroughly positivist account of the nature of science. Pearson claims that 'the scientific method is the sole gateway to the whole region of knowledge', rejecting additional fields of inquiry such as metaphysics. He also emphasises that science can, and should, describe only the 'how' of phenomena and never the 'why'. A scholar of King's College, Cambridge, and later a professor at King's College and University College London, Pearson made significant contributions to the philosophy of science. Including helpful chapter summaries, this book explores in detail a number of scientific concepts, such as matter, energy, space and time. The work influenced such thinkers as Albert Einstein, who considered it to be essential reading when he created his study group, the Olympia Academy, at the age of twenty-three.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Thoemmes Continuum
• Date d'édition: 1992
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1855061015
• ISBN 13: 9781855061019
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 544
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible