You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
This book addresses controversies concerning the epistemological foundations of data science: Is it a genuine science? Or is data science merely some inferior practice that can at best contribute to the scientific enterprise, but cannot stand on its own? The author proposes a coherent conceptual framework with which these questions can be rigorously addressed. Readers will discover a defense of inductivism and consideration of the arguments against it: an epistemology of data science more or less by definition has to be inductivist, given that data science starts with the data. As an alternative to enumerative approaches, the author endorses Federica Russo’s recent call for a variational r...
Big Data and methods for analyzing large data sets such as machine learning have in recent times deeply transformed scientific practice in many fields. However, an epistemological study of these novel tools is still largely lacking. After a conceptual analysis of the notion of data and a brief introduction into the methodological dichotomy between inductivism and hypothetico-deductivism, several controversial theses regarding big data approaches are discussed. These include, whether correlation replaces causation, whether the end of theory is in sight and whether big data approaches constitute entirely novel scientific methodology. In this Element, I defend an inductivist view of big data research and argue that the type of induction employed by the most successful big data algorithms is variational induction in the tradition of Mill's methods. Based on this insight, the before-mentioned epistemological issues can be systematically addressed.
Agglomeration is integral to the processes of modification of powders, production of composites and creation of new materials which are required in pharmaceuticals, foods, chemicals, fertilizers and agrochemicals, minerals, ceramics, metallurgy and all material producing industries. The binding mechanisms and the particle behavior as well as the characteristics of the processes and the resulting agglomerates are the same whether they are occuring in the 'ultra-clean' pharmaceutical or food industries or in 'dirty' minerals or waste processing plants. The book introduces the interdisciplinary approach to the development of new concepts and the solution of problems. It is a complete and up-to-...
‘Cosmological Frontiers’ explores a variety of topical themes within the general fields of cosmology and astrophysics such as: Dark matter, dark energy, black holes, theory of gravity, redshift, plasmas, cosmic microwave background radiation, branes, the Big Bang theory, and the Steady State model. More generally, the current volume gives expression to a process of critically reflecting on some of the discoveries of astrophysics and the field of cosmology as a means of seeking the truth about the nature of certain aspects of reality.
Though the publication of Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions seemed to herald the advent of a unified study of the history and philosophy of science, it is a hard fact that history of science and philosophy of science have increasingly grown apart. Recently, however, there has been a series of workshops on both sides of the Atlantic (called '&HPS') intended to bring historians and philosophers of science together to discuss new integrative approaches. This is therefore an especially appropriate time to explore the problems with and prospects for integrating history and philosophy of science. The original essays in this volume, all from specialists in the history of science or philosophy of science, offer such an exploration from a wide variety of perspectives. The volume combines general reflections on the current state of history and philosophy of science with studies of the relation between the two disciplines in specific historical and scientific cases.
This book subjects the traditional concept of law of nature to critical examination. There are two kinds of reasons that invite this reexamination, one deriving from philosophical concerns over the traditional concept, the other motivated by theoretical and practical changes in science. One of the philosophical worries is that the idiom of law of nature, especially when combined with the notion of laws 'governing' individual events and processes, is no longer as intelligible as it used to be in the theistic context in which the formulation of laws became central to science. The traditional concept is also challenged in various ways by contemporary scientific theories such as quantum mechanic...
A new wave of enthusiasm for smart cities, urban data, and the Internet of Things has created the impression that computation can solve almost any urban problem. Subjecting this claim to critical scrutiny, in this book, Andrés Luque-Ayala and Simon Marvin examine the cultural, historical, and contemporary contexts in which urban computational logics have emerged. They consider the rationalities and techniques that constitute emerging computational forms of urbanization, including work on digital urbanism, smart cities, and, more recently, platform urbanism. They explore the modest potentials and serious contradictions of reconfiguring urban life, city services, and urban-networked infrastru...
This is a collection of high-quality research papers in the philosophy of science, deriving from papers presented at the second meeting of the European Philosophy of Science Association in Amsterdam, October 2009.
What do you know about evolutionary theory? Or, maybe there are two questions here: (1) What do you think you know; (2) What do you actually know? Quite irrespective of whether individuals believe in evolution or they are opposed to it, most people probably would have to acknowledge that they know almost nothing at all about the actual nuts and bolts of the technical issues at the heart of evolutionary theory. Their beliefs concerning this matter -- whatever the character of those beliefs might be -- is, for the most part, likely to be framed by, and filtered through, two themes: (a) a largely unexamined acceptance of the opinion of others; (b) the extent to which evolutionary theory makes c...
How do cables and data centers think? This book investigates how information infrastructures enact particular forms of knowledge. It juxtaposes the pervasive logics of speed, efficiency, and resilience with more communal and ecological ways of thinking and being, turning technical “solutions” back into open questions about what society wants and what infrastructures should do. Moving from data centers in Hong Kong to undersea cables in Singapore and server clusters in China, Munn combines rich empirical material with insights drawn from media and cultural studies, sociology, and philosophy. This critical analysis stresses that infrastructures are not just technical but deeply epistemological, privileging some actions and actors while sidelining others. This innovative exploration of the values and visions at the heart of our technologies will interest students, scholars, and researchers in the areas of communication studies, digital media, technology studies, sociology, philosophy of technology, information studies, and geography.