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Contemporary Perspectives in Philosophy and Methodology of Science Contemporary Perspectives in Philosophy and Methodology of Science Edited by WENCESLAO J. GONZALEZ and JESUS ALCOLEA General Editor Wenceslao J. Gonzalez CONTempORARY PERspecTIVes IN PHILOSOPHY AND METHODOLOGY OF SCIENce Copyright © 2006 by Netbiblo. Copyright © by Wenceslao J. Gonzalez and Jesus Alcolea. ISBN 13: 978-0-9729892-3-7 ISBN 10: 0-9729892-3-4 Printed and bound by Gesbiblo, S.L. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that neither the author nor the publisher is engaged in rendering legal, accounting, futures/securities trading, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of competent professional personnel should be sought. Front cover: Gesbiblo, S.L. First Published 2006 by Netbiblo, S.L. CONTENTS About the Contributors to this Volume .................................................................................................. v 1. Context Novelty and Continuity in Philosophy and Methodology of Science Wenceslao J. Gonzalez ........................................................................................................................ 1 PART I: MetHODOLOgical AppROacHes ON CentRal PROblems OF SciencE 2. Scientific Reasoning and Discovery in Science Scientific Reasoning and the Bayesian Interpretation of Probability Colin Howson ...................................................................................................................................... 31 Kuhn on Discovery and the Case of Penicillin Donald Gillies ..................................................................................................................................... 47 3. Scientific Testing Why Randomize? Evidence and Ethics in Clinical Trials John Worrall ........................................................................................................................................ 65 Prediction as Scientific Test of Economics Wenceslao J. Gonzalez ........................................................................................................................ 83 PART II: EpistemOLOgical IssUes RelateD TO A GeneRal FRamewORK 4. The Examination of Determinism and the Analysis of Life Problems of Determinism: Prediction, Propensity and Probability Peter Clark ........................................................................................................................................... 115 Evolutionary Epistemology and the Concept of Life Franz M. Wuketits ............................................................................................................................... 137 5. Social Epistemology and the Cognitive Relation Science-Technology Conflict between Knowledge and Perception: New Spaces for the Comprehension and Management of the Science around the ‘New Biology’ Emilio Muñoz ...................................................................................................................................... 149 Cognitive Approach on the Relation Science-Technology Anna Estany ........................................................................................................................................ 165 iii iv Contemporary Perspectives in Philosophy and Methodology of Science PART III: FOcal PHilOSOPHical PROblems in EmpiRical anD FORmal ScienceS 6. Neuroscience and Psychology Philosophy and Neuroscience: The Problems Peter Machamer ................................................................................................................................... 183 Education, the Brain and Behavior: Reflections on Today’s Psychology Jose Sanmartin .................................................................................................................................... 199 7. Mathematical Activity and Philosophical Problems Mathematical Doing and the Philosophies of Mathematics Javier de Lorenzo ................................................................................................................................ 209 Ontological and Epistemological Problems of Mathematics Jesus Alcolea-Banegas ........................................................................................................................ 233 Subject Index .............................................................................................................................................. 259 Index of Names ........................................................................................................................................... 267 ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS VOLUME Wenceslao J. Gonzalez is Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science at the University of A Coruña. He has been Vice-dean of the School of Humanities and President of the Committee of Doctoral Programs at the University. He has been a visiting researcher at the Universities of St. Andrews, Münster and London (London School of Economics), as well as Visiting fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh. He has given lectures at the Universities of Pittsburgh, Stanford, Quebec and Helsinki. The conferences in which he has participated include those organized by the Universities of Uppsala (Sweden), New South Wales (Australia), Bologna (Italy) and Canterbury (New Zealand). After the monograph La Teoría de la Referencia (1986), Gonzalez has edited 21 volumes. He is the editor of the book Science, Technology and Society: A Philosophical Perspective (2005), and the monographic issues of journals on Philosophy and Methodology of Economics (1998) and Lakatos’s Philosophy Today (2001). He has published 75 papers which include “Economic Prediction and Human Activity” (1994), “On the Theoretical Basis of Prediction in Economics” (1996), “Rationality in Economics and Scientific Predictions” (1997), “Lakatos’s Approach on Prediction and Novel Facts” (2001), “Rationality in Experimental Economics” (2003), “From Erklären-Verstehen to Prediction-Understanding: The Methodological Framework in Economics” (2003), “The Many Faces of Popper’s Methodological Approach to Prediction” (2004), and “The Philosophical Approach to Science, Technology and Society” (2005). Colin Howson is Professor at the London School of Economics, where he is the Convenor of the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method. He has been President of the British Society for the Philosophy of Science. He is co-author of the influential book Scientific Reasoning: The Bayesian Approach (1989; 3rd ed., 2006) and author of the monograph Hume’s Problem (2000). Previously he was editor of the volume Method and Appraisal in the Physical Sciences (1976). Howson has published many papers on Bayesianism as well as criticizing Popper’s views on probability: “Must the Logical Probability of Laws Be Zero?” (1973); “The Rule of Succession, Inductive Logic and Probability Logic” (1975); “The Prehistory of Chance” (1978); “Miller’s So-Called Paradox of Information” (1979); “Methodology in Non-Empirical Disciplines” (1979); “Bayesianism and Support by Novel Facts” (1984); “Popper’s Solution of the Problem of Induction” (1984); “Popper, Prior Probabilities and Inductive Inference” (1987); “Accommodation, Prediction and Bayesian Confirmation Theory” (1989); “Fitting your theory to the facts: Probably not such a bad thing after all” (1990); “The ‘Old Evidence’ Problem” (1991); “Bayesian Conditionalization and Probability Kinematics” (1994); “Theories of Probability” (1995); “Probability and Logic” (2001); “Bayesianism in Statistics” (2002); and “Bayesian Evidence” (2003). Donald A. Gillies is Professor at University College London. He has been President of the British Society for the Philosophy of Science. From 1982 to 1985 he edited the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. Previously, he studied mathematics and philosophy v vi Contemporary Perspectives in Philosophy and Methodology of Science at Cambridge, and then began graduate studies in Professor Sir Karl Popper’s department at the London School of Economics. After completing his Ph. D. on the foundations of probability with Professor Imre Lakatos as supervisor, he joined the staff of the University of London, where he was Professor of the Philosophy of Science and Mathematics at King’s College London. Gillies has published extensively in philosophy of science and mathematics. He is the author of the monographs An Objective Theory of Probability (1973), Frege, Dedekind and Peano on the Foundations of Arithmetic (1982), Philosophy of Science in the Twentieth Century. Four Central Themes (1993), Artificial Intelligence and Scientific Method (1996), and Philosophical Theories of Probability (2000). He is the editor of the volume Revolutions in Mathematics (1992). Among his papers are “Dynamic Interactions with the Philosophy of Mathematics” (2001), “El problema de la demarcación y la Medicina alternativa” (2004), and “El problema de la inducción y la Inteligencia Artificial” (2004). John Worrall is Professor at the London School of Economics, where he has been Convenor of the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method. He was the editor of the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (1974-1983). He is co-director of the Center for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science at LSE and member of Imre Lakatos Memorial Committee (1974-). He has been co-editor of Lakatos’s works: Proofs and Refutations (1976), The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes (1978)
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