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Galileo and Kepler dreamed of the possibility of space exploration, although its reality was later underappreciated and even challenged by social, ideological, and scientific critics as a diversion from our problems on Earth. The Dimming of Starlight tells the fascinating stories of how space exploration places us in unusual situations that force us to come up with new ideas about nature. This strong connection between scientific exploration and scientific change makes us aware of a new panorama of problems, dangers, and opportunities that leads to new solutions and technologies that would have been unimaginable under old perspectives. Thus, the exploration of Venus led to the discovery of the destruction of Earth's Ozone layer. This discovery will save hundreds of millions of lives in the coming centuries. As we explore space, we learn to protect our planet from catastrophe, and all the while we change drastically our ideas about the nature of the universe. With its account of serendipity and splendor, the book invites readers on an exciting journey in which, step by step, we are shown the crucial importance of space exploration for humanity.
‘A Theory of Wonder’ aims to determine the best way science can satisfy our sense of wonder by exploring the world. Empiricism tells us that science succeeds because it follows the scientific method: Observation passes judgment on Theory – supporting or rejecting it. Much credit is given to the inventor of the method, Galileo, but when historically-minded philosophers of science like Kuhn and Feyerabend called our attention to what Galileo actually wrote and did, we were shocked to find out that Galileo instead drives a dagger through the heart of empiricism; he strikes down the distinction between theory and observation. Plain facts, like the vertical fall of a stone, ruled out the mo...
To what extent does cultural diversity affect the activity and the products of philosophizing? Can there be convergence of worldviews and conceptual frameworks across cultural boundaries? Can there be mutual understanding across them in spite of diversity? To what extent are the philosophies and worldviews developed in North and Latin America diverse? These and other questions prompted by the recent upsurge of relativism are tackled in original essays by philosophers and social scientists from North and Latin America.
This volume presents the first systematic evaluation of a feminist epistemology of sciences' power to transform both the practice of science and our society. Unlike existing critiques, this book questions the fundamental feminist suggestion that purging science of alleged male biases will advance the cause of both science and by extension, social justice. The book is divided into four sections: the strange status of feminist epistemology, testing feminist claims about scientific practice, philosophical and political critiques of feminist epistemology, and future prospects of feminist epistemology. Each of the essays3/4most of which are original to this text3/4 directly confronts the very ide...
A coming-of-age story centering on the life of Oscar Moreira, a privileged fourteen-year-old who attends a Catholic boarding school in Bogotá, Colombia.
Some philosophers think that Paul Feyerabend is a clown, a great many others think that he is one of the most exciting philosophers of science of this century. For me the truth does not lie somewhere in between, for I am decidedly of the second opinion, an opinion that is becoming general around the world as this century comes to an end and history begins to cast its appraising eye upon the intellectual harvest of our era. A good example of this opinion may be found in the admiration for Feyerabend's philosophy of science expressed by Grover Maxwell in his contribution to this volume. Maxwell, recalling his own intellectual transformation, says also that it was Feyerabend who "confirmed my t...
This stimulating collection is devoted to the life and work of the most flamboyant of twentieth-century philosophers, Paul Feyerabend. Feyerabend's radical epistemological claims, and his stunning argument that there is no such thing as scientific method, were highly influential during his life and have only gained attention since his death in 1994. The essays that make up this volume, written by some of today's most respected philosophers of science, many of whom knew Feyerabend as students and colleagues, cover the diverse themes in his extensive body of work and present a personal account of this fascinating thinker.
This book provides the fullest philosophical examination of theories of evolutionary epistemology now available. Here for the first time are found major statements of new theories, new applications, and many new critical explorations. The book is divided into four parts: Part I introduces several new approaches to evolutionary epistemology; Part II attempts to widen the scope of evolutionary epistemology, either by tackling more traditional epistemological issues, or by applying evolutionary models to new areas of inquiry such as the evolution of culture or of intentionality; Part III critically discusses specific problems in evolutionary epistemology; and Part IV deals with the relationship of evolutionary epistemology to the philosophy of mind. Because of its intellectual depth and its breadth of coverage, Issues in Evolutionary Epistemology will be an important text in the field for many years to come.
This book aims to contribute significantly to the understanding of issues of value (including the ultimate value of space-related activities) which repeatedly emerge in interdisciplinary discussions on space and society. Although a recurring feature of discussions about space in the humanities, the treatment of value questions has tended to be patchy, of uneven quality and even, on occasion, idiosyncratic rather than drawing upon a close familiarity with state-of-the-art ethical theory. One of the volume's aims is to promote a more robust and theoretically informed approach to the ethical dimension of discussions on space and society. While the contributions are written in a manner which is accessible across disciplines, the book still withstands scrutiny by those whose work is primarily on ethics. At the same time it allows academics across a range of disciplines an insight into current approaches toward how the work of ethics gets done. The issues of value raised could be used to inform debates about regulation, space law and protocols for microbial discovery as well as longer-range policy debates about funding.