Philosophy of Science in the Twentieth Century: Four Central Themes

By Donald Gillies

Book Overview

This book traces the development during the 20th century of four central themes in the philosophy of science. The themes, chosen for their importance are expounded in a way which does not presuppose any previous knowledge of philosophy or science. The book thus constitutes an excellent introduction to the philosophy of science.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0631183582
• ISBN13: 9780631183587
• Release Date: April 1993
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Length: 268 Pages
• Weight: 0.94 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Philosophy of Science in 20th Century

This is book is used in my college honors class about scientific philosophy and structure. Good book. Points out and discusses different views, opinions, and theories.

read this before you delve into heavier works

It's been a while since I read this book as I bought it when it came out and read it during a cross-country drive. It is a very nice starting point for further reading in philosophy of science. You won't walk away being an expert--how could you with just one book under your belt?--but you'll be prepared to know the ground on which you'll have to tread when reading primary works. Gillies should be commended for putting in relevant biographical and context information. It's hard for a lot of people to understand what groups like the Vienna Circle were up to and there have been all sorts of just plain wrong information circulated about them, e.g., that they were conservatives (wrong: founding member Otto Neurath was the economics minister in a socialist government and most of the members were driven out of Europe by the Nazis). IMO, philosophy cannot be properly understood without understanding the particular questions and context in which a philosopher worked and Gillies does a good job with this.