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13Historical Laws and the History and Philosophy of SciencePhilosophie Et Culture: Actes du XVIIe Congrès Mondial de Philosophie 3 647-651. 1988.
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34The Concept of Analysis in Comte’s Philosophy of MathematicsPhilosophy Research Archives 8 205-222. 1982.This paper traces August Comte’s attempts to get clear about the concept of mathematical analysis at various stages in his intellectual development. Comte was especially concerned with distinguishing a method of analysis for the resolution of complex prolems from analysis in the sense of a method of drawing inferences. Geometrical analysis serves as his model for the former. In his attempt to get clear about this notion, he discovers an historical succession of different methods all of which may…Read more
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9Durkheim's Philosophy of Science and the Sociology of Knowledge: Creating an Intellectual NicheUniversity of Chicago Press. 1994.In this demonstration of the link between philosophy of science and scientific practice, Warren Schmaus argues that Durkheim's philosophy is crucial to his sociology. Through a reinterpretation of the relation between Durkheim's major philosophical and sociological works, Schmaus argues that Durkheim's sociology is more than a collection of general observations about society—it reflects a richly constructed theory of the meanings and causes of social life. Schmaus shows how Durkheim sought to ma…Read more
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17Changing conceptions of the philosophy of scienceInternational Studies in the Philosophy of Science 15 (2). 2001.(2001). Changing conceptions of the philosophy of science. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science: Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 127-131. doi: 10.1080/02698590120058997
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20Sociology and Hacking's TrousersPSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1992. 1992.For Hacking, the word "real", like the sexist expression "wear the trousers", takes its meaning from its negative uses. In this essay, I criticize Hacking's reasons for believing that the objects of study of the social sciences are not real. First I argue that the realism issue in the social sciences concerns not unobservable entities but systems of social classification. I then argue that Hacking's social science nominalism derives from his considering social groups in isolation from the entire…Read more
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34Renouvier and the method of hypothesisStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 38 (1): 132-148. 2007.Renouvier was among the first philosophers in France to break with the nineteenth-century inductivist tradition and defend the use of hypotheses in science. Earlier in the century, the humanistically-educated eclectic spiritualist philosophers who dominated French academic life had followed Reid in proscribing the use of hypotheses. Renouvier, who was educated in the sciences, took up the Comtean positivist alternative and developed it further. He began by defending hypotheses that anticipate la…Read more
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66Book Reviews : Steve Fuller, Social Epistemology. Indiana University Press, Bloomington/ Indianapolis, 1988. Pp. xv, 316, US$22.00 (review)Philosophy of the Social Sciences 21 (1): 121-125. 1991.
Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
History of Western Philosophy |
Science, Logic, and Mathematics |
Areas of Interest
History of Western Philosophy |
Science, Logic, and Mathematics |