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805Kuhn's changing concept of incommensurabilityBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 44 (4): 759-774. 1993.Since 1962 Kuhn's concept of incommensurability has undergone a process of transformation. His current account of incommensurability has little in common with his original account of it. Originally, incommensurability was a relation of methodological, observational and conceptual disparity between paradigms. Later Kuhn restricted the notion to the semantical sphere and assimilated it to the indeterminacy of translation. Recently he has developed an account of it as localized translation failure …Read more
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127How the epistemic relativist may use the sceptic’s strategy: A reply to Markus SeidelStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 44 (1): 140-144. 2013.This paper is a response to an objection that Markus Seidel has made to my analysis of epistemic relativism. Seidel argues that the epistemic relativist is unable to base a relativist account of justification on the sceptical problem of the criterion in the way that I have suggested in earlier work. In response to Seidel, I distinguish between weak and strong justification, and argue that all the relativist needs is weak justification. In addition, I explain my reasons for employing the idiom of…Read more
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1381The Incommensurability ThesisTaylor and Francis. 1994.This book presents a critical analysis of the semantic incommensurability thesis of Thomas Kuhn and Paul Feyerabend. In putting forward the thesis of incommensurability, Kuhn and Feyerabend drew attention to complex issues concerning the phenomenon of conceptual change in science. They raised serious problems about the semantic and logical relations between the content of theories which deploy unlike systems of concepts. Yet few of the more extreme claims associated with incommensurability st…Read more
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364Descartes's Language Test and Ape Language ResearchTeorema: International Journal of Philosophy 29 (2): 111-123. 2010.Some philosophers (e.g. Descartes) argue that there is an evidential relationship between language and thought, such that presence of language is indicative of mind. Recent language acquisition research with apes such as chimpanzees and bonobos attempts to demonstrate the capacity of these primates to acquire at least rudimentary linguistic capacity. This paper presents a case study of the ape language research and explores the consequences of the research with respect to the argument that ani…Read more
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3773Scientific Realism and the Rationality of ScienceAshgate. 2008.Scientific realism is the position that the aim of science is to advance on truth and increase knowledge about observable and unobservable aspects of the mind-independent world which we inhabit. This book articulates and defends that position. In presenting a clear formulation and addressing the major arguments for scientific realism Sankey appeals to philosophers beyond the community of, typically Anglo-American, analytic philosophers of science to appreciate and understand the doctrine. The bo…Read more
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165T.S. Kuhn: The road since ‘structure’: Philosophical essays, 1970–1993, with an autobiographical interview (review)British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 53 (1): 137-142. 2002.
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994Rationality, Relativism and IncommensurabilityAshgate. 1997.This book concentrates on three topics: the problem of the semantic incommensurability of theories; the non-algorithmic character of rational scientific theory choice and naturalised accounts of the rationality of methodological change. The underlying aim is to show how the phenomenon of extensive conceptual and methodological variation in science need not give rise to a thorough-going epistemic or conceptual relativism.
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1197Reference, Success and Entity RealismKairos. Revista de Filosofia and Ciência 5 31-42. 2012.The paper discusses the version of entity realism presented by Ian Hacking in his book, Representing and Intervening. Hacking holds that an ontological form of scientific realism, entity realism, may be defended on the basis of experimental practices which involve the manipulation of unobservable entities. There is much to be said in favour of the entity realist position that Hacking defends, especially the pragmatist orientation of his approach to realism. But there are problems with the pos…Read more
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287Paul Feyerabend: The tyranny of science (review)Metascience 21 (2): 471-476. 2011.This is an essay review of Paul Feyerabend's book, The Tyranny of Science.
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IntroductionIn Paul Hoyningen-Huene & Howard Sankey (eds.), Incommensurability and Related Matters, Kluwer Academic Publishers. 2001.
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256The semantic stance of scientific entity realism [Corrigenda]Philosophia 25 (3-4): 481-482. 1997.These are the footnotes for the article which was published in Philosophia Vol 24 1995, pp. 405-415
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346Chisholm, scepticisme et relativismeBulletin d'Analyse Phénoménologique 10 (6): 32-39. 2014.Cet article esquisse une réponse particulariste et naturaliste au relativisme épistémique. La réponse est basée sur une analyse spécifique de la source de relativisme épistémique. Selon cette analyse, le relativisme épistémique doit être considérée en lien proche avec le scepticisme pyrrhonien, car le relativisme est basée sur le problème du critère qui a été propose par les ces anciens sceptiques. L’article commence avec une caractérisation du relativisme épistémique. Puis il présente un arg…Read more
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222Brian Ellis Truth and Objectivity and Paul Horwich Truth (review)Philosophical Quarterly 42 (169): 496. 1992.Review of Brian Ellis's Truth and Objectivity and Paul Horwich's Truth.
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216James Franklin: What science knows and how it knows it (review)Metascience 19 (2): 289-292. 2010.This is a review of James Franklin's book, What Science Knows and How It Know It.
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314Scientific realism and the semantic incommensurability thesisStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 40 (2): 196-202. 2009.This paper reconsiders the challenge presented to scientific realism by the semantic incommensurability thesis. A twofold distinction is drawn between methodological and semantic incommensurability, and between semantic incommensurability due to variation of sense and due to discontinuity of reference. Only the latter presents a challenge to scientific realism. The realist may dispose of this challenge on the basis of a modified causal theory of reference, as argued in the author’s 1994 book, Th…Read more
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195Thomas Nickles (ed.): Thomas Kuhn (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2003 (3). 2003.This volume of essays about Thomas Kuhn contains new work by key figures in the area of Kuhn-studies. The essays treat Kuhn primarily as a philosopher rather than historian of science. They analyze the background setting of Kuhn’s ideas, and cover such topics as his account of scientific practice, cognitive aspects of scientific reasoning and conceptual change, and Kuhn’s influence on feminist philosophy of science. While the volume is principally conceived as an introduction to Kuhn for the …Read more
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Areas of Specialization
Epistemology |
General Philosophy of Science |
Areas of Interest
Scientific Realism |
Metaphysical Realism |
Incommensurability in Science |
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