Underdetermination : an essay on evidence and the limits of natural knowledge

Author(s)

• Bonk, Thomas

Bibliographic Information

Underdetermination : an essay on evidence and the limits of natural knowledge

by Thomas Bonk

（Boston studies in the philosophy of science, v. 261）

Springer, c2008

Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. 259-277) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

This timely book offers a wide-ranging study of the thesis that scientific theories are systematically "underdetermined" by the data they account for. After analyzing the epistemological and ontological aspects of the topic in detail, and reviewing pertinent logical facts and selected scientific cases, the author carefully examines the merits of arguments for and against the thesis. Along the way, he investigates methodological proposals and recent theories of confirmation.

Table of Contents

1 A Humean Predicament? 1.1. Aspects of Underdetermination 1.2. Significance of the Thesis 1.3. Quine, Realism, and Underdetermination 1.4. No quick solutions 1.5. Three responses and strategies 2 Underdetermination Issues in the Exact Sciences 2.1. Logical Equivalence, Interdefinability, and Isomorphism 2.2. Theorems of Ramsey and Craig 2.3. From Denotational Vagueness to Ontological Relativity 2.4. Semantic Arguments 2.5. Physical Equivalence 2.6. Underdetermination of Geometry 3 Rationality, Method, and Evidence 3.1. Deductivism Revisited 3.2. Quine on Method and Evidence 3.3. Instance Confirmation and Bootstrapping 3.4. Demonstrative Induction 3.5. Underdetermination and Inter-theory Relations 4 Competing Truths 4.1. Constructivism 4.2. Things versus Numbers 4.3. Squares, Balls, Lines, and Points 4.4. Algorithms 5 Problems of Representation 5.1. Ambiguity 5.2. Conventionalism: Local 5.3. Conventionalism: Global 5.4. Verificationism and Fictionalism 6 Underdetermination and Indeterminacy 6.1. Underdetermination of Translation 6.2. Indeterminacy versus Underdetermination 6.3. Empirical Investigation of Cognitive Meaning 6.4. Indeterminacy and the Absence of Fact 6.5. Quine's Pragmatic Interpretation of Underdetermination Bibliography Index

by "Nielsen BookData"

Details

• NCID: BA85678765
• ISBN:
  • 9781402068980
• Country Code: ne
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: Dordrecht
• Pages/Volumes: xii, 284 p.
• Size: 25 cm
• Classification:
  • LCC : Q175
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : Knowledge, Theory of -- Study and teaching
  • LCSH : Phenomenology -- Study and teaching
  • LCSH : Evidence
  • LCSH : Belief and doubt
• Parent Bibliography ID:
  • BA00017164