A historical introduction to the philosophy of science

Introduction 1. Aristotle's Philosophy of Science 2. The Pythagorean Orientation 3. The Ideal of Deductive Systemization 4. Atomism and the Concept of Underlying Mechanism 5. Affirmation and Development of Aristotle's Method in the Medieval Period 6. The Debate over Saving the Appearances 7. The Seventeenth-Century Attack on Aristotelian Philosophy 8. Newton's Axiomatic Method 9. Analysis of the Implications of the New Science for a Theory of Scientific Method 10. Inductivism v the Hypothetico-Deductive View of Science 11. Mathematical Positivism and Conventionlism 12. Logical Reconstructivist Philosophy of Science 13. Orthodoxy under Attack 14. Theories of Scientific Progress 15. Explanation, Causation, and Unification 16. Confirmation and Evidential Support 17. The Justification of Evaluative Standards 18. The Debate over Scientific Realism 19. Descriptive Philosophies of Science Bibliography Index