Ebook: Analysis and interpretation in the exact sciences: Essays in honour of William Demopoulos

The essays in this volume concern the points of intersection between analytic philosophy and the philosophy of the exact sciences. More precisely, it concern connections between knowledge in mathematics and the exact sciences, on the one hand, and the conceptual foundations of knowledge in general. Its guiding idea is that, in contemporary philosophy of science, there are profound problems of theoretical interpretation-- problems that transcend both the methodological concerns of general philosophy of science, and the technical concerns of philosophers of particular sciences. A fruitful approach to these problems combines the study of scientific detail with the kind of conceptual analysis that is characteristic of the modern analytic tradition. Such an approach is shared by these contributors: some primarily known as analytic philosophers, some as philosophers of science, but all deeply aware that the problems of analysis and interpretation link these fields together.

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The essays in this volume concern the points of intersection between analytic philosophy and the philosophy of the exact sciences. More precisely, it concern connections between knowledge in mathematics and the exact sciences, on the one hand, and the conceptual foundations of knowledge in general. Its guiding idea is that, in contemporary philosophy of science, there are profound problems of theoretical interpretation-- problems that transcend both the methodological concerns of general philosophy of science, and the technical concerns of philosophers of particular sciences. A fruitful approach to these problems combines the study of scientific detail with the kind of conceptual analysis that is characteristic of the modern analytic tradition. Such an approach is shared by these contributors: some primarily known as analytic philosophers, some as philosophers of science, but all deeply aware that the problems of analysis and interpretation link these fields together. 1 Philosophy of Physics.- 1 Harvey Brown: “Solving the measurement problem: de Broglie-Bohm loses out to Everett”.- 2 Jeffrey Bub: “Two dogmas about quantum mechanics”.- 3 Hilary Putnam: “Quantum mechanics and ontology.- 4 Allen Stairs: “A loose and separate certainty”.- 5 David Malament: “A Remark about the ‘Geodesic Principle’ in General Relativity”.- 2 Philosophy of Mathematics.-[6 Crispin Wright: “The metaphysics of abstraction” .- 7 Peter Clark: “Henri Poincaré and the diagnosis of the contradictions”.- 8 Michael Hallett: “Hilbert on mathematical existence”.- 3 Philosophy of Language and the Analytical-Empirical Tradition.- 9 Michael Friedman: “Carnap on theoretical terms: structuralism without metaphysics”.- 10 Erin Eaker: “Biological species: a case study for essentialism about natural kinds”.- 11 Sylvain Bromberger: “Ambiguity, vagueness, and the ‘sound’ of meaning”.- 12 Anil Gupta: “The given in conscious experience”.- 13 Mark Wilson: “Long Ago, in a Context Far Away”.

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The essays in this volume concern the points of intersection between analytic philosophy and the philosophy of the exact sciences. More precisely, it concern connections between knowledge in mathematics and the exact sciences, on the one hand, and the conceptual foundations of knowledge in general. Its guiding idea is that, in contemporary philosophy of science, there are profound problems of theoretical interpretation-- problems that transcend both the methodological concerns of general philosophy of science, and the technical concerns of philosophers of particular sciences. A fruitful approach to these problems combines the study of scientific detail with the kind of conceptual analysis that is characteristic of the modern analytic tradition. Such an approach is shared by these contributors: some primarily known as analytic philosophers, some as philosophers of science, but all deeply aware that the problems of analysis and interpretation link these fields together. 1 Philosophy of Physics.- 1 Prof. Harvey Brown, Philosophy Department, University of Oxford: “Solving the measurement problem: de Broglie-Bohm loses out to Everett”.- 2 Prof. Jeffrey Bub, Department of Philosophy, University of Maryland: “Two dogmas about quantum mechanics”.- 3 Prof. Hilary Putnam, Department of Philosophy, Harvard University: “Quantum mechanics and ontology.- 4 Prof. Allen Stairs, Department of Philosophy, University of Maryland: “A loose and separate certainty”.- 5 Prof. David Malament, Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science, University of California at Irvine: “A Remark about the ‘Geodesic Principle’ in General Relativity”.- 2 Philosophy of Mathematics.-[6 Prof. Crispin Wright, Department of Logic and Metaphysics, University of St. Andrews: “The metaphysics of abstraction” .- 7 Prof. Peter Clark, Department of Logic and Metaphysics, University of St. Andrews: “Henri Poincaré and the diagnosis of the contradictions”.- 8 Prof. Michael Hallett, Philosophy Department, McGill University: “Hilbert on mathematical existence”.- 3 Philosophy of Language and the Analytical-Empirical Tradition.- 9 Prof. Michael Friedman, Department of Philosophy, Stanford University: “Carnap on theoretical terms: structuralism without metaphysics”.- 10 Prof. Erin Eaker, Department of Philosophy, University of Maryland: “Biological species: a case study for essentialism about natural kinds”.- 11 Prof. Sylvain Bromberger, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, MIT: “Ambiguity, vagueness, and the ‘sound’ of meaning”.- 12 Prof. Anil Gupta, Department of Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh: “The given in conscious experience”.- 13 Mark Wilson, Department of Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh: “Long Ago, in a Context Far Away”.