Scientific Theories (Minnesota Studies In The Philosophy Of Science)

The present volume is the second of two in which a number of scholars examine the question: is a new consensus emerging in the philosophy of science? The first volume, Scientific Explanation, applied the question to that particular discipline. The present volume evaluates, analyzes and criticizes the central themes of current mainstream philosophy of science aiming to build a bridge between the old and the new schools of thought. The book is divided into three sections. The first deals with issues arising from the special sciences of biomedicine, economics, neuropsychology, psychoanalysis and physics. The middle section discusses issues in confirmation, such as holistic methods and criteria for theory choice. The final section explores the semantic incommensurability of theories, under-determination, the rationality of theory acceptance, historical arguments for realism, and improvements in empiricism.