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517Normativity and Instrumentalism in David Lewis’ ConventionHistory of European Ideas 37 (3): 325-335. 2011.David Lewis presented Convention as an alternative to the conventionalism characteristic of early-twentieth-century analytic philosophy. Rudolf Carnap is well known for suggesting the arbitrariness of any particular linguistic convention for engaging in scientific inquiry. Analytic truths are self-consistent, and are not checked against empirical facts to ascertain their veracity. In keeping with the logical positivists before him, Lewis concludes that linguistic communication is conventional. H…Read more
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664Arrow’s impossibility theorem and the national security stateStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 36 (4): 734-743. 2005.This paper critically engages Philip Mirowki's essay, "The scientific dimensions of social knowledge and their distant echoes in 20th-century American philosophy of science." It argues that although the cold war context of anti-democratic elitism best suited for making decisions about engaging in nuclear war may seem to be politically and ideologically motivated, in fact we need to carefully consider the arguments underlying the new rational choice based political philosophies of the post-WWII …Read more
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Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyResearcher
Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Science, Logic, and Mathematics |
History of Western Philosophy |
Philosophy, Misc |
Other Academic Areas |