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132Counter Thought ExperimentsRoyal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 61 155-177. 2007.Let's begin with an old example. In De Rerum Naturua , Lucretius presented a thought experiment to show that space is infinite. We imagine ourselves near the alleged edge of space; we throw a spear; we see it either sail through the ‘edge’ or we see it bounce back. In the former case the ‘edge’ isn't the edge, after all. In the latter case, there must be something beyond the ‘edge’ that repelled the spear. Either way, the ‘edge’ isn't really an edge of space, after all. So space is infinite
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11Book Review:Science and Convention Jerzy Giedymin (review)Philosophy of Science 52 (1): 168-. 1985.
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6Why Thought Experiments Transcend ExperienceIn Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Science, Blackwell. pp. 23-43. 2004.
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80Money, Method and Medical ResearchEpisteme 1 (1): 49-59. 2004.It's sometimes useful to start with a quiz, even if it seems irrelevant to the issues at hand. Suppose you have to organize a tennis tournament with, say, 1025 players. Match winners will go on to the next round while losers bow out until all have been eliminated except, of course, the final champion. Your problem is this: How many matches must you book for this tournament?
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Why Empiricism Won't WorkIn C. Hitchcock (ed.), Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Science, . 2004.A defence of a priori knowledge of nature via thought experiments. The article is part of a pair, the counter-view argued by John Norton.
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23Boundaries, Reasons, and Ideology: Reply to SismondoEpisteme 1 (3): 249-255. 2005.Sergio Sismondo's “Boundary Work and the Science Wars” nicely exemplifies a hotly debated central issue. One side, let me call them the rationalists, tries to explain episodes in the history of science in terms of reason. They claim that scientists, past and present, believe what they do because of the evidence that they have at the time. The other side, following Sismondo, let me call them STSers , claim that social and other non-cognitive factors are the frequent causes of belief. This disagre…Read more
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105Politics, method, and medical researchPhilosophy of Science 75 (5): 756-766. 2008.There is sufficient evidence that intellectual property rights are corrupting medical research. One could respond to this from a moral or from an epistemic point of view. I take the latter route. Often in the sciences factual discoveries lead to new methodological norms. Medical research is an example. Surprisingly, the methodological change required will involve political change. Instead of new regulations aimed at controlling the problem, the outright socialization of research seems called for…Read more
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15Introduction to the special issue on rationalityInternational Studies in the Philosophy of Science 13 (3): 213. 1999.No abstract
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129Thought experiments since the scientific revolutionInternational Studies in the Philosophy of Science 1 (1). 1986.No abstract
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31Proof and truth in Lakatos's masterpieceInternational Studies in the Philosophy of Science 4 (2). 1990.Abstract Proofs and Refutations is Lakatos's masterpiece. This article investigates some of its central themes, in particular: the nature of proofs ('Proofs do not prove, they improve'); the nature of definitions (real, not nominal); and the consequences of all this for ontology (platonism vs Popper's World Three)
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99Funding, objectivity and the socialization of medical researchScience and Engineering Ethics 8 (3): 295--308. 2002.There has been a sharp rise in private funding of medical research, especially in relation to patentable products. Several serious problems with this are described. A solution involving the elimination of patents and public funding administered through extended national health care systems is proposed.
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75Review of Alexander Bird's book Thomas Kuhn (review)British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 53 (1): 143-149. 2002.
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226Proofs and picturesBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 48 (2): 161-180. 1997.Everyone appreciates a clever mathematical picture, but the prevailing attitude is one of scepticism: diagrams, illustrations, and pictures prove nothing; they are psychologically important and heuristically useful, but only a traditional verbal/symbolic proof provides genuine evidence for a purported theorem. Like some other recent writers (Barwise and Etchemendy [1991]; Shin [1994]; and Giaquinto [1994]) I take a different view and argue, from historical considerations and some striking exampl…Read more
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2EditorialInternational Studies in the Philosophy of Science 15 (2). 2001.This Article does not have an abstract
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159Peeking into Plato’s HeavenPhilosophy of Science 71 (5): 1126-1138. 2004.Examples of classic thought experiments are presented and some morals drawn. The views of my fellow symposiasts, Tamar Gendler, John Norton, and James McAllister, are evaluated. An account of thought experiments along a priori and Platonistic lines is given. I also cite the related example of proving theorems in mathematics with pictures and diagrams. To illustrate the power of these methods, a possible refutation of the continuum hypothesis using a thought experiment is sketched.
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54Science in a Free Society by Paul Feyerabend; New Left Books; London, 1978; Pp. 221Dialogue 20 (1): 169-171. 1981.
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14Philosophy of Science: The Key Thinkers (edited book)Continuum Books. 2012.From the 19th century the philosophy of science has been shaped by a group of influential figures. Who were they? Why do they matter? This introduction brings to life the most influential thinkers in the philosophy of science, uncovering how the field has developed over the last 200 years. Taking up the subject from the time when some philosophers began to think of themselves not just as philosophers but as philosophers of science, a team of leading contemporary philosophers explain, criticize a…Read more
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42Realism, Miracles, and the Common CausePSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1982. 1982.The principle of the common cause, which gets its justification from the miracle arguments, probably constitutes the best reason for being a scientific realist. However, results in quantum mechanics steming from the work of Bell raise difficulties which anti-realists have been quick to seize. The author tries to overcome the problem and save scientific realism by reformulating the principle of the common cause so that a distinction is made between a priori and a posteriori correlations.
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31Platonic explanation: Or, what abstract entities can do for youInternational Studies in the Philosophy of Science 3 (1). 1988.(1988). Platonic explanation: Or, what abstract entities can do for you. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science: Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 51-67. doi: 10.1080/02698598808573324
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115John D. Barrow, Pi in the Sky: Counting, Thinking, and BeingPhilosophia Mathematica 2 (3): 251-251. 1994.
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182What is a definition?Foundations of Science 3 (1): 111-132. 1998.According to the standard view of definition, all defined terms are mere stipulations, based on a small set of primitive terms. After a brief review of the Hilbert-Frege debate, this paper goes on to challenge the standard view in a number of ways. Examples from graph theory, for example, suggest that some key definitions stem from the way graphs are presented diagramatically and do not fit the standard view. Lakatos's account is also discussed, since he provides further examples that suggest ma…Read more
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131Newton's bucket, Einstein's elevator, Schrödinger's cat – these are some of the best-known examples of thought experiments in the natural sciences. But what function do these experiments perform? Are they really experiments at all? Can they help us gain a greater understanding of the natural world? How is it possible that we can learn new things just by thinking? In this revised and updated new edition of his classic text _The Laboratory of the Mind_, James Robert Brown continues to defend aprio…Read more
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58Review of M. Giaquinto, The Search for Certainty: A Philosophical Account of Foundations of Mathematics (review)Mind 113 (449): 177-179. 2004.
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91_Philosophy of Mathematics_ is an excellent introductory text. This student friendly book discusses the great philosophers and the importance of mathematics to their thought. It includes the following topics: * the mathematical image * platonism * picture-proofs * applied mathematics * Hilbert and Godel * knots and nations * definitions * picture-proofs and Wittgenstein * computation, proof and conjecture. The book is ideal for courses on philosophy of mathematics and logic.
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University of Toronto, St. George CampusDepartment of Philosophy
Institute for the History and Philosophy of ScienceRetired faculty
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Areas of Specialization
Science, Logic, and Mathematics |