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29This book consists of a collection of essays written between 1965 and 1981. Some have been published elsewhere; others appear here for the first time. Although dealing with different figures and different periods, they have a common theme: all are concerned with examining how the method of hy pothesis came to be the ruling orthodoxy in the philosophy of science and the quasi-official methodology of the scientific community. It might have been otherwise. Barely three centuries ago, hypothetico de…Read more
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80For Method: or, Against FeyerabendIn J. R. Brown & J. Mittelstrass (eds.), An Intimate Relation: Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science Presented to Robert E. Butts on His 60th Birthday (Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science), Springer. 1989.
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126William Whewell on the Consilience of InductionsThe Monist 55 (3): 368-391. 1971.Most contributions to Whewell scholarship have tended to stress the idealistic, antiempirical temper of Whewell’s philosophy. Thus, the only two monograph-length studies on Whewell, Blanché’s Le Rationalisme de Whewell and Marcucci’s L’ ‘Idealismo’ Scientifico di William Whewell, are, as their titles suggest, concerned primarily with Whewell’s departures from classical British empiricism. Particularly in his famous dispute with Mill, it has proved tempting to parody Whewell’s position in the deb…Read more
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285Demystifying underdeterminationIn C. Wade Savage (ed.), Scientific Theories, University of Minnesota Press. pp. 267-97. 1990.
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2Progress or rationalityIn David Papineau (ed.), The Philosophy of Science, Oxford University Press. pp. 194--214. 1996.
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30Two puzzles about science: Reflections on some crises in the philosophy and sociology of science (review)Minerva 20 (3-4): 253-268. 1982.
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1111Beyond Positivism and Relativism: Theory, Method, and EvidenceWestview Press. 1996.By targeting and critiquing these assumptions, he lays the groundwork for a post-positivist philosophy of science that does not provide aid and comfort to the enemies of reason. This book consists of thirteen essays.
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40Methodology's ProspectsPSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1986. 1986.For positivists and post-positivists alike, methodology had a decidedly suspect status. Positivists saw methodological rules as stipulative conventions, void of any empirical content. Post-positivists (especially naturalistic ones) see such rules as mere descriptions of how research is conducted, carrying no normative force. It is argued here that methodological rules are fundamentally empirical claims, but ones which have significant normative bite. Methodology is thus divorced both from founda…Read more
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Teorias do Método Científico de Platão a MachCadernos de História E Filosofia da Ciéncia 10 (2). 2000.Este artigo, originalmente publicado em History of Science, vol. 7 , pp. 1-63, contém talvez a mais completa bibliografia existente sobre as teorias do método, além de fornecer preciosas indicações para o seu uso e para o estudo da história da metodologia em geral. Agradecemos ao Professor Larry Laudan por ter preparado, especialmente para a tradução brasileira, um suplemento bibliográfico contendo muitos títulos novos. Embora o texto do ensaio original permaneça praticamente inalterado, algumas…Read more
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1498A confutation of convergent realismPhilosophy of Science 48 (1): 19-49. 1981.This essay contains a partial exploration of some key concepts associated with the epistemology of realist philosophies of science. It shows that neither reference nor approximate truth will do the explanatory jobs that realists expect of them. Equally, several widely-held realist theses about the nature of inter-theoretic relations and scientific progress are scrutinized and found wanting. Finally, it is argued that the history of science, far from confirming scientific realism, decisively conf…Read more
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24Quarta sessió del Seminari de Larry Lawdan.
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102For more than a half-century, evidence scholars have been exploring whether the criminal standard of proof can be grounded in decision theory. Such grounding would require the emergence of a social consensus about the utilities to be assigned to the four outcomes at trial. Significant disagreement remains, even among legal scholars, about the relative desirability of those outcomes and even about the formalisms for manipulating their respective utilities. We attempt to diagnose the principal rea…Read more
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28Progress and Its Problems: Towards a Theory of Scientific GrowthPhilosophical Review 87 (4): 614. 1978.
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161Commentary: Science at the Bar-Causes for ConcernScience, Technology, and Human Values 7 (41): 16-19. 1982.
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56The history of science and the philosophy of scienceIn R. C. Olby, G. N. Cantor, J. R. R. Christie & M. J. S. Hodge (eds.), Companion to the History of Modern Science, Routledge. pp. 47--59. 1990.
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49Thinking about error in the lawIn Alvin I. Goldman & Dennis Whitcomb (eds.), Social Epistemology: Essential Readings, Oxford University Press. 2011.
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287How about bust? Factoring explanatory power back into theory evaluationPhilosophy of Science 64 (2): 306-316. 1997.1. Introduction. The papers by Hellman and Mayo offer up a rich menu of problems and proposed solutions, so there is much here for a friendly critic to fasten on. In order to bring a modicum of focus to my commentary, I shall limit my remarks to the Duhem problem and its radiations in epistemology and methodology. Both Mayo and Hellman claim to have solutions to that hoary old problem and they tout these solutions as key indicators of the explanatory power of their respective technical epistemol…Read more
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120Science and Relativism: Some key controversies in the philosophy of scienceUniversity of Chicago Press. 1990.Some Key Controversies in the Philosophy of Science Larry Laudan. the mouths of my realist, relativist, and positivist. (By contrast, there is at least one person who hews to the line I have my prag- matist defending.) But I have gone to some ...
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50Error and Legal EpistemologyIn Deborah G. Mayo & Aris Spanos (eds.), Error and Inference: Recent Exchanges on Experimental Reasoning, Reliability, and the Objectivity and Rationality of Science, Cambridge University Press. pp. 376. 2010.
Areas of Specialization
20th Century Philosophy |
General Philosophy of Science |
17th/18th Century Philosophy |
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Law |
General Philosophy of Science |