Theory and Reality

By P. Godfrey‐Smith. 2003

747 citations recorded by the source corpus.

What makes science different from other ways of investigating the world? In "Theory and Reality" Peter Godfrey-Smith uses debates - such as the problem of confirmation, the new riddle of induction, and the problem of scientific realism - as a way to introduce, in a completely accessible way, the main themes in the philosophy of science. Intended for undergraduates and general readers with no prior background in philosophy, "Theory and Reality" starts by surveying the last hundred years of work in the field. It covers logical positivism; induction and confirmation; Karl Popper's theory of science; Thomas Kuhn and "scientific revolutions"; the radical views of Imre Lakatos, Larry Laudan and Paul Feyerabend; and challenges to the field from sociology of science, feminism and science studies. The book then looks in detail at some of the broader philosophical issues at stake, such as philosophical naturalism, scientific realism, theories of explanation in science, Bayesianism, and other modern theories of explanation in science. Throughout the text he points out connections between philosophical debates and wider discussions about science in recent decades, such as the infamous "science wars". Examples and asides engage the beginning student, a glossary of terms explains key concepts, and suggestions for further reading are included at the end of each chapter. Like no other text in this field, "Theory and Reality" combines a survey of recent history of the philosophy of science with current key debates in language that any beginning scholar or critical reader can follow.

Subfields: History and Philosophy of Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/cd52c89cdb02dda0969995d74b5f8ddb3897a06d

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In History and Philosophy of Science

Citations in the corpus

The Importance of Understanding the Nature of Science for Accepting Evolution (2008, background): “Indeed, these topics are the source of controversy in the philosophy of science, where an enormous literature explores different ways of understanding the structure and confirmation of theories (see Godfrey-Smith 2003, for an accessible review).”
Fifty years of methodological trends in JIBS: Why future IB research needs more triangulation (2020, neutral): “Kuhn (2012 [1970]), who initially proposed the concept of a paradigm, conceived it as ‘[a] package of claims about the world, methods for gathering and analyzing data, and habits of scientific thought and action’ (Godfrey-Smith, 2003: 76).”
What can recent replication failures tell us about the theoretical commitments of psychology? (2014, background): “Replication failure, of course, is an accepted and anticipated aspect of scientific inquiry (e.g., Godfrey-Smith, 2003; Kuhn, 1962; Ladyman, 2002; Popper, 1963/2004; Trusted, 1979).”
The extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2): A systematic literature review and theory evaluation (2021, background): “Given the broad related individual use of technology user class such as students and citizens(Rana et al., 2013; Weerakkody et al., 2007, 2009, 2017), a higher-level formulation is also necessary.”
Learning progressions and teaching sequences: a review and analysis (2011, background): “, Duschl & Grandy, 2011; Godfrey-Smith, 2003; Knorr-Cetina, 1999) have adopted naturalistic accounts to explain the emergence of new conceptual (what we know), methodological (how we know) and epistemological (why we believe) criteria or standards for the growth of scientific knowledge and the mecha”
What makes Darwinian hydrology "Darwinian"? Asking a different kind of question about landscapes (2014, background): “As Gould (1983) notes, the results of historical change “lie strewn around us”, but the processes that produced them are not so easily observed. Connecting structure and history through mechanisms, Gould (1983) posited, is “the quintessential problem of evolutionary theory: how do we use the anatomy”
The Nature of Theory in Information Systems (2006, background): “The development of theory or conjectures in the first place can occur as a result of observations of what occurs in the real world (Nagel 1979; Godfrey-Smith 2003) or from insights or imagination or problems or feelings (Popper 1980).”
Explanation, understanding, and control (2014, neutral): “In closing this section, a final possibility worth highlighting is that this paper’s proposal may have the potential to facilitate recent moves toward pluralism regarding scientific explanation (Godfrey-Smith 2009).”