-
14Pragmatism Versus Social Construction: A Reply to ShahryariJournal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 55 (1): 153-157. 2024.In a response to my recent article in this journal, Shahram Shahryari argues that I fail to present a third position between absolutism and relativism. He makes two points: first, that fallibilism is insufficient as an alternative, because it is compatible with both relativism and absolutism. The second point is that my argument that experience can lead to objective judgment without being a new absolute fails. I discuss these in turn, showing that both critiques fail and that pragmatism is a gen…Read more
-
9Chasing Poincaré: Reflections on Interdisciplinary Research and HistoriographyPhilosophia Scientiae 27 (2): 177-194. 2023.I will present two examples of influential (and incorrect) interpretations of Poincaré, pinpointing their errors and documenting some of their diffusion. The first example, which appears to have been initiated by Moritz Schlick, is the widespread misinterpretation of Poincaré’s argument for geometric conventionalism by basing it on the underdetermination of theories in science. The second example, having to do with Poincaré’s claim that Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometries are inter-translatab…Read more
-
7Gila Sher, The Bounds of Logic: a Generalized Viewpoint (review)Philosophy in Review 15 (6): 426-428. 1995.
-
4Book Reiew Michael Resnik, Mathematics as a Science of Patterns (review)History and Philosophy of Logic 19 (3): 175-185. 1998.Michael Resnik, Mathematics as a science of patterns, Oxford and New York:Oxford University Press, 1997. ix + 285 pp. $45.00/£35.00
-
3Rationalism in ScienceIn Alan Jean Nelson (ed.), A Companion to Rationalism, Wiley-blackwell. 2005.I survey the debate over rationalism and empiricism in science. This chapter contains sections titled: The New Experimental Science as a Challenge to Intuition, Geometry and Intuition, The Mathematical Tradition and Theoretical Science.
-
1Douglas M. Jesseph, Berkeley's Philosophy of Mathematics (review)Philosophy in Review 15 (2): 113-115. 1995.
-
1Bertrand Russell, An Essay on the Foundations of Geometry (review)Philosophy in Review 17 (5): 364-366. 1997.
-
1Conventionalism and Truth: Poincare's Mediation Between Relativism and Absolutism in ScienceDissertation, Northwestern University. 1988.Much like contemporary philosophers of science, Poincare attempts to develop a philosophy of science that is able to account for genuine historical change in science but also allows science to be seen as progressive. Poincare is famous for his thesis that there is no true metric of space. He claims that we may choose either Euclidean or non-Euclidean geometry in mechanics and the choice is not objectively right or wrong. However, his conventionalism is not total, as some have charged. He holds t…Read more
APA Western Division
San Francisco, California, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Physical Science |
General Philosophy of Science |