Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wg55d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-11T16:39:51.010Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A New Program for Philosophy of Science?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Abstract

I contend that Janet Kourany's “A Philosophy of Science for the Twenty-First Century” contains three levels of projects: (1) a naturalistic project, (2) a critical project, and (3) a political project. The naturalistic project is already well established. The critical project is less valued and less established within the profession, but seems a worthy and achievable goal. The political project, I argue, takes one outside the professional pursuit of the philosophy of science. The critical project encompasses both the evaluation of scientific research programs and of empirical conclusions. I contend that the former is widely acknowledged as legitimate while the latter is unacceptable.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

The author wishes to thank Janet Kourany for initiating this exchange and the reviewer for Philosophy of Science who provided a conscientious reading and insightful comments.

References

Fuller, Steve (2000), Thomas Kuhn: A Philosophical History for Our Times. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kitcher, Philip (1993), The Advancement of Science. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kitcher, Philip (1996), The Lives to Come: The Genetic Revolution and Human Possibilities. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Kitcher, Philip (2001), Science, Truth, and Democracy. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laudan, Larry, and Leplin, Jarrett (1991), “Empirical Equivalence and Underdetermination”, Empirical Equivalence and Underdetermination 88 (9): 449472..Google Scholar
Longino, Helen E. (1990), Science as Social Knowledge: Values and Objectivity in Scientific Inquiry. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Longino, Helen E. (2002), The Fate of Knowledge. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, Lynn Hankinson (1990), Who Knows: From Quine to a Feminist Empiricism. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Solomon, Miriam (2001), Social Empiricism. Cambridge: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weinberg, Steven (1992), Dreams of a Final Theory. New York: Pantheon Books.Google Scholar