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Peter Machamer

University of Pittsburgh
  •  Home
  •  Publications
    115
    • Most Recent
    • Most Downloaded
    • Topics
  •  Events
    4
  •  News and Updates
    55

 More details
  • University of Pittsburgh
    History and Philosophy of Science
    Unknown
University of Chicago
Department of Philosophy
PhD, 1972
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Aesthetics
Philosophy of Cognitive Science
17th/18th Century Philosophy
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Action
General Philosophy of Science
  • All publications (115)
  •  116
    Newton and the mechanical philosophy: Gravitation as the balance of the heavens
    with J. E. Mcguire and Hylarie Kochiras
    Southern Journal of Philosophy 50 (3): 370-388. 2012.
    We argue that Isaac Newton really is best understood as being in the tradition of the Mechanical Philosophy and, further, that Newton saw himself as being in this tradition. But the tradition as Newton understands it is not that of Robert Boyle and many others, for whom the Mechanical Philosophy was defined by contact action and a corpuscularean theory of matter. Instead, as we argue in this paper, Newton interpreted and extended the Mechanical Philosophy's slogan “matter and motion” in referenc…Read more
    We argue that Isaac Newton really is best understood as being in the tradition of the Mechanical Philosophy and, further, that Newton saw himself as being in this tradition. But the tradition as Newton understands it is not that of Robert Boyle and many others, for whom the Mechanical Philosophy was defined by contact action and a corpuscularean theory of matter. Instead, as we argue in this paper, Newton interpreted and extended the Mechanical Philosophy's slogan “matter and motion” in reference to the long and distinguished tradition of mixed mathematics and the study of simple machines
    Isaac Newton
  •  60
    Chapter five. Mind, intuition, innateness, and ideas
    with J. E. McGuire
    In Peter Machamer & J. E. McGuire (eds.), Descartes's Changing Mind, Princeton University Press. pp. 164-197. 2009.
    Nativism in Cognitive Science
  •  1
    Guide to the Philosophy of Science (edited book)
    with Michael Silberstein
    Blackwell. 2002.
    The Explanatory Gap
  •  26
    The Dispositions of Descartesc
    In Gregor Damschen, Robert Schnepf & Karsten R. Stüber (eds.), Debating Dispositions: Issues in Metaphysics, Epistemology and Philosophy of Mind, Walter De Gruyter. pp. 69-78. 2009.
  •  26
    Explanations of Colors: A Comment to Hardin
    In Martin Carrier & Peter Machamer (eds.), Mindscapes: Philosophy, Science, and the Mind, University of Pittsburgh Press. pp. 5--113. 1997.
  •  48
    Stillman Drake. Essays on Galileo and the History and Philosophy of Science. Volumes 1–3. Edited with introductions by, N. M. Swerdlow and T. H. Levere. Volume 1: xxiv + 473 pp., frontis., illus., index; Volume 2: viii + 380 pp., frontis., illus., figs., tables, index; Volume 3: vi + 392 pp., frontis., illus., figs., tables, bibl., index. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999. $75 ; $24.95 (review)
    Isis 93 (4): 697-697. 2002.
  •  57
    A Fallacious Forced Choice: Cloninger and Stoyanov, Machamer, and Schaffner Are Compatible
    with Drozdstoj Stoyanov and Kenneth F. Schaffner
    Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 20 (3): 281-284. 2013.
    Mental IllnessPhilosophy of Psychiatry and Psychopathology, MiscDepression
  •  135
    A recent drawing of the theory/observation distinction
    Philosophy of Science 38 (3): 413-414. 1971.
    James Cornman has recently offered a definition for ‘observation term’ which he takes to meet most, if not all, of the standard objections to such definitions. He also employs this definition against certain materialists, but in what follows I wish only to address myself to the proposed definition. I shall argue that he has failed to show any logical difference between “observation terms,” as he defines them, and terms which are not so classified. I shall show that his definition is too restrict…Read more
    James Cornman has recently offered a definition for ‘observation term’ which he takes to meet most, if not all, of the standard objections to such definitions. He also employs this definition against certain materialists, but in what follows I wish only to address myself to the proposed definition. I shall argue that he has failed to show any logical difference between “observation terms,” as he defines them, and terms which are not so classified. I shall show that his definition is too restrictive.
    Arguments For and Against Scientific RealismThe Observation-Theory Distinction
  •  73
    Reviews (review)
    with Stephen Lunsford
    British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 26 (1): 81-82. 1975.
    History of Physics
  •  271
    Activities and causation: The metaphysics and epistemology of mechanisms
    International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 18 (1). 2004.
    This article deals with mechanisms conceived as composed of entities and activities. In response to many perplexities about the nature of activities, a number of arguments are developed concerning their epistemic and ontological status. Some questions concerning the relations between cause and causal explanation and mechanisms are also addressed.
    Epistemology of Specific Domains, MiscMechanistic Explanation
  •  17
    Of Psychology
    In Merrilee H. Salmon, John Earman, Clark Glymour & James G. Lennox (eds.), Introduction to the Philosophy of Science, Hackett Publishing Company. pp. 346. 1999.
  •  23
    Chapter three. Seeing the implications of his causal views: The response to his critics
    with J. E. McGuire
    In Peter Machamer & J. E. McGuire (eds.), Descartes's Changing Mind, Princeton University Press. pp. 82-110. 2009.
  •  90
    Motion and Time, Space and Matter: Interrelations in the History of Philosophy and Science
    with Robert G. Turnbull
    Philosophical Review 88 (1): 122-124. 1979.
  •  55
    Understanding scientific change
    Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 5 (4): 373-381. 1975.
    Theory ChangePhilosophy of Psychology
  •  31
    Galileo and the Rhetoric of Relativity
    Science & Education 8 (2): 111-120. 1999.
  • The Cambridge Companion to Galileo (JR Milton)
    Philosophical Books 41 (1): 29-30. 2000.
    Not only a hero of the scientific revolution, but after his conflict with the church, a hero of science, Galileo is today rivalled in the popular imagination only by Newton and Einstein. But what did Galileo actually do, and what are the sources of the popular image we have of him? This 1998 collection of specially-commissioned essays is unparalleled in the depth of its coverage of all facets of Galileo's work. A particular feature of the volume is the treatment of Galileo's relationship with th…Read more
    Not only a hero of the scientific revolution, but after his conflict with the church, a hero of science, Galileo is today rivalled in the popular imagination only by Newton and Einstein. But what did Galileo actually do, and what are the sources of the popular image we have of him? This 1998 collection of specially-commissioned essays is unparalleled in the depth of its coverage of all facets of Galileo's work. A particular feature of the volume is the treatment of Galileo's relationship with the church. It will be of interest to philosophers, historians of science, cultural historians and those in religious studies
    History of Physics
  •  86
    Rendering clinical psychology an evidence‐based scientific discipline: a case study
    with Drozdstoj St Stoyanov and Kenneth F. Schaffner
    Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 18 (1): 149-154. 2012.
    Philosophy of Medicine
  •  35
    Disciplines in the Making: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Elites, Learning, and Innovation (review)
    Isis 102 553-554. 2011.
  • Scientific controversies: An introduction
    with M. Pera and A. Baltas
    In Peter Machamer, Marcello Pera & Aristides Baltas (eds.), Scientific controversies: philosophical and historical perspectives, Oxford University Press. pp. 3--17. 2000.
    Philosophy of Science, General WorksSociology of Science
  •  90
    A model of intelligibility in science: Using Galileo's balance as a model for understanding the motion of bodies
    with Andrea Woody
    Science & Education 3 (3): 215-244. 1994.
    History of PhysicsPhilosophy of Teaching, MiscClassical MechanicsUnderstanding
  •  1
    Philosophy of psychology
    In Merrilee H. Salmon, John Earman, Clark Glymour & James G. Lennox (eds.), Introduction to the Philosophy of Science, Hackett Publishing Company. pp. 346--363. 1999.
  •  45
    Preface
    Synthese 64 (1): 1-1. 1985.
  •  70
    Mindscapes: Philosophy, Science, and the Mind (edited book)
    with Martin Carrier
    University of Pittsburgh Press. 1997.
    Leading scholars in the fields of philosophy and the sciences of the mind have contributed to this newest volume in the prestigious Pittsburgh-Konstanz series. Among the problem areas discussed are folk psychology, meanings as conceptual structures, functional and qualitative properties of colors, the role of conscious mental states, representation and mental content, the impact of connectionism on the philosophy of the mind, and supervenience, emergence, and realization. Most of the essays are …Read more
    Leading scholars in the fields of philosophy and the sciences of the mind have contributed to this newest volume in the prestigious Pittsburgh-Konstanz series. Among the problem areas discussed are folk psychology, meanings as conceptual structures, functional and qualitative properties of colors, the role of conscious mental states, representation and mental content, the impact of connectionism on the philosophy of the mind, and supervenience, emergence, and realization. Most of the essays are followed by commentaries that reflect ongoing debates in the philosophy of the mind and often develop a counterpoint to the claims of the essayists.
    Explaining Consciousness, MiscPsychophysical SuperveniencePsychophysical Reduction, MiscDynamical Sy…Read more
    Explaining Consciousness, MiscPsychophysical SuperveniencePsychophysical Reduction, MiscDynamical SystemsThe Nature of Folk PsychologyAnimal Minds, MiscConscious and Unconscious MemoryConsciousness and Neuroscience, Foundational Issues
  •  81
    Neuroscienze e natura della filosofia
    with Justin Sytsma
    Iride: Filosofia e Discussione Pubblica 18 (3): 495-514. 2005.
  •  32
    Chapter one. From method to epistemology and from metaphysics to the epistemic stance
    with J. E. McGuire
    In Peter Machamer & J. E. McGuire (eds.), Descartes's Changing Mind, Princeton University Press. pp. 1-35. 2009.
    Epistemological TheoriesEpistemological States and Properties
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