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54Skeptical rationalismInquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 22 (1-4). 1979.To improve our methods of rational inquiry and decision-making we need to recognize that such methods should guide but not fully determine the choices of individuals. Failure to acknowledge the essential incompleteness of rational methods made the methods of Classical Rationalism quite impractical and opened them to skeptical refutation. Mitigated Skepticism and Fideism failed to correct the error, and as a result put undesirable limits on rational inquiry. When the guiding character of rational…Read more
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44Fields of forceWiley. 1974.This book tells how a series of very remarkable men tried to get a better understanding of the world. These men are Michael Faraday and those he influenced: ...
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33William Berkson, Review of The Holistic Inspirations of Physics: The Underground History of Electromagnetic Theory by Val Dusek (review)Philosophy of Science 67 (3): 536-540. 2000.
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29Critical Review: Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge: Proceedings of the International Colloquium in the Philosophy of Science, London 1965, Vol. 4 (review)Journal of Critical Analysis 4 (3): 112-116. 1972.
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22Fields of Force: The Development of a World View from Faraday to EinsteinPhilosophical Review 84 (4): 595-598. 1975.
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18Lakatos one and Lakatos two: An appreciationIn R. S. Cohen, P. K. Feyerabend & M. Wartofsky (eds.), Essays in Memory of Imre Lakatos, Reidel. pp. 39--54. 1976.When I was pondering what I should write about Lakatos in this article, I ran into what seemed an insuperable difficulty. On one hand I thought that part of my job should be to give a portrait of Lakatos' personal manner. This would be informative from the point of view of history of thought, as it would help people read his works with greater understanding. And it would be interesting, if I succeeded at all: everyone who knew Lakatos would agree that he was one of the most remarkable people the…Read more
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18Methodology is pragmatic: A response to MillerPhilosophy of the Social Sciences 20 (1): 95-98. 1990.
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16Skeptical RationalismIn Joseph Agassi & I. C. Jarvie (eds.), Inquiry, Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 21--43. 1987.
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8The Formal and the InformalPSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1978. 1978.
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3Agassi on TechnologyPhilosophy of the Social Sciences 52 (6): 365-371. 2022.Joseph Agassi's distinction and characterization of science, applied science, and technology—with invention connecting applied science and technology—has been a signal contribution. His theory of science, though, is flawed by his rejection of any role for corroboration, when corroboration in fact has guided researchers in various ways. His later, more extensive discussions of these issues, unfortunately have not advanced on his important early work.
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2The Formal and the InformalPSA Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1978 (2): 296-308. 1978.I became acquainted with Lakatos’s work in 1965 when I started studying at London School of Economics—where Lakatos taught. As his work was developed over the succeeding years until his death in 1974, one thing always puzzled me: his work seemed to contain such conflicting tendencies. He would continue developing his ideas along a progressive line, and suddenly would insert an element which appeared to me quite reactionary. By ‘reactionary’, I should hasten to add, I mean imbued with the spirit …Read more
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Some practical issues in the recent controversy on the nature of scientific revolutionsBoston Studies in the Philosophy of Science 14 197-210. 1994.
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"The Structure of Scientific Inference" by Mary Hesse (review)Philosophy of the Social Sciences 5 (3): 361. 1975.
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Research problems and the understanding of scienceIn Nancy J. Nersessian (ed.), The Process of Science: Contemporary Philosophical Approaches to Understanding Scientific Practice, Kluwer Academic Publishers. 1987.