Ernest Nagel

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Ernest Nagel springer.com Matthias Neuber, Adam Tamas Tuboly (Eds.) 1st ed. 2022, IX, 310 p. 3 illus. Ernest Nagel: Philosophy of Printed book Hardcover 129,99 € | £109.99 | $159.99 Science and the Fight for [1]139,09 € (D) | 142,99 € (A) | CHF 153,50 Clarity eBook 106,99 € | £87.50 | $119.00 Series: Logic, Epistemology, and the Unity of Science [2]106,99 € (D) | 106,99 € (A) | CHF 122,50 First systematic presentation of Ernest Nagel’s life and work Available from your library or Groundbreaking collection to address twentieth-century history of philosophy springer.com/shop of science MyCopy [3] A collection of readable essays on Nagel's life and work, with a Nagel- Printed eBook for just interview and an unpublished talk of Nagel € | $ 24.99 This volume is dedicated to the life and work of Ernest Nagel (1901-1985) counted among the springer.com/mycopy influential twentieth-century philosophers of science. Forgotten by the history of philosophy of Error[en_EN | Export.Bookseller. science community in recent years, this volume introduces Nagel’s philosophy to a new MediumType | SE] generation of readers and highlights the merits and originality of his works. Best known in the history of philosophy as a major American representative of logical empiricism with some pragmatist and naturalist leanings, Nagel’s interests and activities went beyond these limits. His career was marked with a strong and determined intention of harmonizing the European scientific worldview of logical empiricism and American naturalism/pragmatism. His most famous and systematic treatise on, The Structure of Science, appeared just one year before Thomas Kuhn’s even more renowned, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. As a reflection of Nagel’s interdisciplinary work, the contributing authors’ articles are connected both historically and systematically. The volume will appeal to students mainly at the graduate level and academic scholars. Since the volume treats historical, philosophical, physical, social and general scientific questions, it will be of interest to historians and philosophers of science, epistemologists, social scientists, and anyone interested in the history of analytic philosophy and twentieth-century intellectual history. Order online at springer.com / or for the Americas call (toll free) 1-800-SPRINGER / or email us at: [email protected]. / For outside the Americas call +49 (0) 6221-345-4301 / or email us at: [email protected]. The first € price and the £ and $ price are net prices, subject to local VAT. Prices indicated with [1] include VAT for books; the €(D) includes 7% for Germany, the €(A) includes 10% for Austria. Prices indicated with [2] include VAT for electronic products; 19% for Germany, 20% for Austria. All prices exclusive of carriage charges. Prices and other details are subject to change without notice. All errors and omissions excepted. [3] No discount for MyCopy. Part of .
Recommended publications
  • Discovery and the Rationality of Science
    Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 1985 Discovery and the Rationality of Science William S. Hill Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Hill, William S., "Discovery and the Rationality of Science" (1985). Dissertations. 2434. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/2434 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1985 William S. Hill DISCOVERY AND THE RATIONALITY OF SCIENCE by Wiliam S. Hill A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Loyola University of Chicago in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 1985 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS • . ii VITA • • • • • • • • • • • · • • • iii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION . 1 Discovery as a Direction for Philosophy of Science • • • • • • • . • . • . 1 The Justification Approach to Philosophy of Science . 2 The Discovery Alternative . • . • . • . • • 6 II. THE IMPLICATIONS OF THEORY-LADENNESS FOR THE HISTORY AND RATIONALITY OF SCIENCE. • • • • 10 Normal Science. • • . • . • . • . • • • • . • • 12 Revolutionary Science • • • • • • • . • • • 16 Kuhn's Historical Method. • . • . • . • . • . 20 The Success of Kuhn's Replacement • . • • . 22 III. THE IMPLICATIONS OF THEORY-LADENNESS FOR THE STABILITY OF EVIDENCE IN SCIENCE. • . • . • • • 29 Relative Stability of Observation Terms . • • . 32 The "Useh Criterion for the Theory-Observation Distinction • • • • . • . • . • . • . • • . 37 The Problem of Circularity. • . 43 IV.
    [Show full text]
  • Joseph Fletcher the Father of Biomedical Ethics by Richard Taylor
    L J Spring 1984 Vol. 4, No. 2 Joseph Fletcher The Father of Biomedical Ethics by Richard Taylor Special Features The Foundations of Religious liberty Carl Henry, Father Ernest Fortin, Paul Kurtz, and Lee Nisbet God and the New Physics Mario Bunge, Mendel Sachs, and Paul Davies Plus: Floyd Matson, Matthew Ies Spetter, Richard Kostelanetz, and Nicholas Capaldi SPRING 1984 ISSN 0272-0701 VOL. 4, NO. 2 Contents 3 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SAVE OUR CHILDREN 4 Christian Science, Faith Healing,, and the Law Rita Swan 10 Ultrafundamentalist Sects and Child Abuse Lowell D. Streiker 17 Joseph Fletcher: The Father of Biomedical Ethics Richard Taylor THE FOUNDATIONS OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND DEMOCRACY 20 Religious Liberty: Cornerstone of Human Rights Carl F. H. Henry 27 Democracy Without Theology Paul Kurtz 32 Is Liberal Democracy Really Christian? Ernest Fortin 35 Father Fortins Protestant Politics Lee Nisbet 38 Biblical Views of Sex: Blessing or Handicap? Jeffrey J. W. Baker 41 A Naturalistic Basis for Morality John Kekes BIBLICAL CRITICISM 44 On Miracles Randel Helms HUMANIST SELF-PORTRAITS 46 A Humanist Credo Matthew les Specter 47 The Distinctions of Humanism Richard Kosielanetz 48 Humane-ism Floyd Matson VIEWPOINTS 49 Moral Absolutes and Foreign Policy Nicholas Capaldi 50 The Vatican Ambassador Edd Doerr BOOKS 52 God and the Physicists Mario Bunge, Mendel Sachs, and Paul Davies 51 POETRY 60 ON THE BARRICADES 62 CLASSIFIED Cover art courtesy of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library and AP/Wide World Edirur: Paul Kurtz -I ssueiare Editors: Gordon Stein, Lee Nisbet l s.sistartt Editors: Doris Doyle, Andrea Szalanski Ir, Director: Gregory Lyde Vigrass Contributing Editors: Lionel Abel, author, critic, SUNY at Buffalo; Paul Beattie, president, Fellowship of Religious Humanists; Jo-Ann Boydston, director, Dewey Center; Laurence Briskman, lecturer.
    [Show full text]
  • Medium-Term Strategic Plan of the Institute of Philosophy (2020–2023) 1A) Analysis of the External Environment the Situation
    Medium-term Strategic Plan of the Institute of Philosophy (2020–2023) 1a) Analysis of the external environment The situation of the Institute has been determined by the fundamental science policy reform in the course of which the Research Centre for the Humanities changed its operational form. Instead of being a budgetary entity of the Public Body of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), as of 1 September 2019, it continues to operate as a central budgetary entity directed by the Eötvös Loránd Research Network (ELRN). 1b) Review of the internal capacities The previous period (2016–2018) saw the creation of the first excellence research team within the Institute, which has had an important budget from funds, and which has studied the values underlying scientific research. We have published monographs about the philosophy of Kant, Hume, and Saint Augustine of Hippo, about quantum theory, logical empiricism, historical philosophy and other topics. In addition to the publication of Latin- and Hungarian-language sources, the Hungarian Philosophical Archives has also been launched, which contains documents and biographical data. The Institute is a founding member of the Artificial Intelligence Coalition. The Institute has increased its presence in international professional forums, as has been reflected – in addition to our publication activities – by the higher number of international conferences attended and organized in the recent period. In accordance with the broad interpretation of philosophy’s mission of usefulness for the community, the fellows of the Institute have been involved in public life extensively as well as in popular science and interdisciplinary activities, both through their lectures delivered in Hungary and abroad, and their media appearances and writings.
    [Show full text]
  • 26 Huttemann Love Reduction
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by PhilPapers Reduction Andreas Hüttemann Alan C. Love Abstract Reduction and reductionism have been central philosophical topics in analytic philosophy of science for more than six decades. Together they encompass a diversity of issues from metaphysics and epistemology. This article provides an introduction to the topic that illuminates how contemporary epistemological discussions took their shape historically and limns the contours of concrete cases of reduction in specific natural sciences. The unity of science and the impulse to accomplish compositional reduction in accord with a layer-cake vision of the sciences, the seminal contributions of Ernest Nagel on theory reduction and how they strongly conditioned subsequent philosophical discussions, and the detailed issues pertaining to different accounts of reduction that arise in both physical and biological science (e.g., limit-case and part-whole reduction in physics, the difference-making principle in genetics, and mechanisms in molecular biology) are explored. The conclusion argues that the epistemological heterogeneity and patchwork organization of the natural sciences encourages a pluralist stance about reduction. Keywords composition, limit-case reduction, Ernest Nagel, mechanisms, part-whole reduction, theory reduction Reduction and reductionism have been central philosophical topics in analytic philosophy of science for more than six decades. Together they encompass a diversity of issues from metaphysics (e.g., physicalism and emergence) and epistemology (e.g., theory structure, 1 causal explanation, and methodology). “Reduction” usually refers to an asymmetrical relationship between two items (e.g., theories, explanations, properties, etc.) where one item is reduced to another.
    [Show full text]
  • ABSTRACT Made in God's Image: a Multidisciplinary Study of Personhood and Faith Sarah C. Heady Director: Junius Johnson, Phd T
    ABSTRACT Made in God’s Image: A Multidisciplinary Study of Personhood and Faith Sarah C. Heady Director: Junius Johnson, PhD The question "what is a person?" haunts countless disciplines and debates, from theology to neuroscience, abortion to artificial intelligence. For Christians to engage meaningfully in such areas in a way consistent with their religious ideals, they must have a carefully considered perspective on personhood. In this project, I present a model of how to consider such a challenging topic. I first establish a biblical anthropology consisting of twelve principles of personhood derived from Scripture. I next present three different perspectives on personhood – traditional theological, emergent, and reductionist – which originate from the disciplines of theology, sociology, and neuroscience, respectively. I analyze the compatibility of these three perspectives with the established biblical principles of personhood. From this, I conclude that the traditional theological perspective is most compatible with Scripture. However, I more significantly argue that one should adopt the perspective on personhood that bears the greatest consilience with both Scripture and other forms of knowledge, while giving priority to Scripture. I ultimately conclude that the traditional theological perspective is the most consilient of the three perspectives with Scripture and the wider body of knowledge. APPROVED BY DIRECTOR OF HONORS THESIS: __________________________________________________ Dr. Junius Johnson, Department of Great Texts APPROVED
    [Show full text]
  • 5. Mormann FINAL-2
    From Cautious Enthusiasm to Profound Disenchantment Ernest Nagel and Carnapian Logical Empiricism Thomas Mormann Department of Logic and Philosophy Science University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain [email protected] Abstract: In this paper I’d like to study the complex relation between logical empiricism and American pragmatism examining the case of Ernest Nagel. More precisely, I want to explore some aspects of Nagel’s changing attitude towards the “new” logical-empiricist philosophy that arrived in the US in the 1930s. In the beginning, Nagel welcomed logical empiricism almost wholeheartedly. This early enthusiasm did not last. Nagel’s growing dissatisfaction with the Carnapian version of logical empiricist philosophy was clearly expressed in his criticism of Carnap’s inductive logic and more generally in his last book, Teleology Revisited and Other Essays in the History and Philosophy of Science, where he criticizes Carnap’s philosophy of science in general as ahistoric and non-pragmatist. It is argued that Carnap and Nagel represented opposed possibilities for how the profession of a philosopher of science could be understood: Carnap, as a “conceptual engineer”, was engaged in the task of inventing conceptual tools for a better theoretical understanding of science, while Nagel is better characterized as a “public intellectual” engaged in the more general practical project of realizing a more rational and enlightened society. Keywords: Logical Empiricism; American Pragmatism; History of Science; Rudolf Carnap; Ernest Nagel 5.1. Introduction The relation between logical empiricism and American pragmatism is one of the more difficult problems in the history of philosophy.1 This relation cannot be described as a point- like event; rather, it was a process that evolved for various decades.
    [Show full text]
  • Passmore, J. (1967). Logical Positivism. in P. Edwards (Ed.). the Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Vol. 5, 52- 57). New York: Macmillan
    Passmore, J. (1967). Logical Positivism. In P. Edwards (Ed.). The Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Vol. 5, 52- 57). New York: Macmillan. LOGICAL POSITIVISM is the name given in 1931 by A. E. Blumberg and Herbert Feigl to a set of philosophical ideas put forward by the Vienna circle. Synonymous expressions include "consistent empiricism," "logical empiricism," "scientific empiricism," and "logical neo-positivism." The name logical positivism is often, but misleadingly, used more broadly to include the "analytical" or "ordinary language philosophies developed at Cambridge and Oxford. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND The logical positivists thought of themselves as continuing a nineteenth-century Viennese empirical tradition, closely linked with British empiricism and culminating in the antimetaphysical, scientifically oriented teaching of Ernst Mach. In 1907 the mathematician Hans Hahn, the economist Otto Neurath, and the physicist Philipp Frank, all of whom were later to be prominent members of the Vienna circle, came together as an informal group to discuss the philosophy of science. They hoped to give an account of science which would do justice -as, they thought, Mach did not- to the central importance of mathematics, logic, and theoretical physics, without abandoning Mach's general doctrine that science is, fundamentally, the description of experience. As a solution to their problems, they looked to the "new positivism" of Poincare; in attempting to reconcile Mach and Poincare; they anticipated the main themes of logical positivism. In 1922, at the instigation of members of the "Vienna group," Moritz Schlick was invited to Vienna as professor, like Mach before him (1895-1901), in the philosophy of the inductive sciences. Schlick had been trained as a scientist under Max Planck and had won a name for himself as an interpreter of Einstein's theory of relativity.
    [Show full text]
  • Grażyna Musiał ERNEST NAGEL and ECONOMIC METHODOLOGY
    Grażyna Musiał ERNEST NAGEL AND ECONOMIC METHODOLOGY. A NEW LOOK GRAŻYNA MUSIAŁ Economic methodology, at any rate in the second half of the 20th century, developed partially through the process of terminological and conceptual acqui- sitions and borrowings from the philosophy of science – so claim, for instance, the authors of The Handbook of Economic Methodology, 19981. Analytical phi- losophy, an influential current in the Anglo-Saxon philosophy of science, was represented by Ernest Nagel, Carl Gustav Hempel and others. Their scholarly achievements were a source of many important subjects for consideration for the methodology of economics. There were the issues of the cognitive status of the theory, problems of explaining in various types of sciences, the question of value judgements in social sciences. This literature inspired the methodology of eco- nomics with many classical subjects that contributed to emergence of new inves- tigative perspectives. One should mention here the instrumentalism in Milton Friedman’s presentation, or the operationalism as interpreted by Paul Anthony Samuelson. The object of the paper is to emphasise these particular features of the con- cept of science in Ernest Nagel’s interpretation that are believed to be of special importance, also for the methodology of economics as they contributed to work- ing out a new outlook for that science. As we are aware of the specificity of as- sumptions of Nagel’s concept, we have given a lot of space to presentation of these assumptions and this is reflected in the very structure of the paper. Another subject of our interest concerns two issues of methodology.
    [Show full text]
  • Ernest Nagel 17
    570 Charles Taylor • 8. Power and Sociefy (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1952), Ch. 9, sections 3 and 4. l 9. Ibid., p. 228. I. 10. Ibid .. p. 229. 11. Ibid., p. 231. Chapter 36 f 12. Ibid. 13. Ibid., p. 232. The Value-Oriented Bias of Social Inquiry 14. Ibid .. p. xi. 15. Ibid., p. 231. 16. Ibid., p. 239. Ernest Nagel 17. Political Writings. 18. Ibid., pp. 497-8. 19. Ibid., pp. 497-502. 20. Ibid., p. 500. We tum, finally, to the difficulties said to confront the social sciences because the social 21. We might also speak of "interests" here, but this can be seen as included in "wants" and "needs." values to which students of social phenomena are committed not only color the Inter~st may deviate· from want, but can only be explicated in terms of such concepts as "satisfaction," contents of their findings but also control their assessment of the evidence on which "happiness," "unhappiness," etc., the criteria for whose application are ultimately to be found in what they base their conclusions. Since social scientists generally cliff.er in· their value com­ we want. mitments, the "value neutrality" that seems to be so pervasive in the natural sciences 22. In what follo,¥s I am indebted to the argum_ents of Mrs. P. Foot, e.g., to her 'When Is a Principle a · Moral Principle?" in Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Vol. xxvii i (1954), and her "Moral Argu1nents" is therefore often held to be impossible in social inquiry. In the judgment of many in Mind, A.S.S.V.
    [Show full text]
  • The Free Will-Determinism Debate and Social Work
    Rhode Island College Digital Commons @ RIC Faculty Publications 1983 The rF ee Will-Determinism Debate and Social Work Frederic G. Reamer Rhode Island College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.ric.edu/facultypublications Part of the Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons, and the Social Work Commons Citation Reamer, F. G. (1983). The free will-determinism debate and social work. The Social Service Review, 57(4), 626-644. https://doi.org/ 10.1086/644143 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ RIC. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ RIC. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Free Will-Determinism Debate and Social Work Author(s): Frederic G. Reamer Source: The Social Service Review, Vol. 57, No. 4 (Dec., 1983), pp. 626-644 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30011687 . Accessed: 14/02/2011 15:15 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at .
    [Show full text]
  • Ernest Nagel and Carnapian Logical Empiricism1
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by PhilPapers From Cautious Enthusiasm to Profound Disenchantment: Ernest Nagel and Carnapian Logical Empiricism1 Thomas Mormann Department of Logic and Philosophy Science University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain Email: [email protected] Abstract: Understanding the relation between logical empiricism and American pragmatism is one of the more difficult problems in the history of philosophy. In this paper I would like to take a local perspective and concentrate on the details that concern the vicissitudes of a philosopher who played an important role in the encounter between logical empiricism and American pragmatism, namely, Ernest Nagel. More precisely, I want to explore some aspects of Nagel’s changing attitude towards the “new” logical- empiricist philosophy. In the beginning, Nagel welcomed logical empiricism almost wholeheartedly. This early enthusiasm did not last. Nagel’s growing dissatisfaction with the Carnapian version of logical empiricist philosophy was clearly expressed in his criticism of Carnap’s inductive logic and more generally in his last book, Teleology Revisited and Other Essays in the History and Philosophy of Science, where he criticizes Carnap’s philosophy of science in general as ahistoric and non-pragmatist. One of the distinctive features of Nagel’s philosophy of science was the emphasis that he placed on the role of the history of science in the philosophy of science. Compelling evidence
    [Show full text]
  • LOGICAL EMPIRICISM BETWEEN PRAGMATISM and NEOPRAGMATISM Sami Pihlström Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies E-Mail: [email protected]
    1 LOGICAL EMPIRICISM BETWEEN PRAGMATISM AND NEOPRAGMATISM Sami Pihlström Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies E-mail: [email protected] 1. Introduction Both logical empiricism and pragmatism have been regarded as “philosophical revolutions”, and both went through crucial development and transformation during the period this book focuses on, 1895-1935. This essay can by no means exhaustively analyze these developments. However, I will examine some ways in which more recent neopragmatism is rooted in the “revolution” of those years, as well as some neglected pragmatism-related trends in logical empiricism. The Americanization of originally European analytic philosophy, beginning with the rise of Nazism in Europe, has been described as a move “from the Vienna Circle to Harvard Square” (Holton 1993). There are, indeed, significant links between logical empiricism 1 and American pragmatism; these links can also be argued to have been influential, albeit often implicitly, in the emergence of what is today known as neopragmatism.2 In the United States, C.I. Lewis, Ernest Nagel, and W.V. Quine, among others, played an important role as mediators between these philosophical schools. 3 Another interesting mediating figure – some decades earlier – between pragmatism and early analytic philosophy was Frank Ramsey, who could have changed the history of twentieth century philosophy by truly developing a synthesis of these philosophies, had he lived longer.4 Charles Morris’s “pragmatic empiricism” was yet another milestone between Vienna and America; Morris argued for the complementarity and even convergence of pragmatism and logical empiricism throughout the 1930s (see Morris 1937, 1938, 1963; cf. Carnap 1963). 1 I will speak of “logical empiricism” instead of “logical positivism”, unless there is a reason to be more specific.
    [Show full text]