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Nancy Cartwright’s Philosophy of Science

Edited by Luc Bovens, Carl Hoefer, Stephan Hartmann

Published May 28th 2008 by Routledge – 406 pages

Series: Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Science

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Description

Nancy Cartwright is one of the most distinguished and influential contemporary philosophers of science. Despite the profound impact of her work, there is neither a systematic exposition of Cartwright’s philosophy of science nor a collection of articles that contains in-depth discussions of the major themes of her philosophy.

This book is devoted to a critical assessment of Cartwright’s philosophy of science and contains contributions from Cartwright's champions and critics. Broken into three parts, the book begins by addressing Cartwright's views on the practice of model building in science and the question of how models represent the world before moving on to a detailed discussion of methodologically and metaphysically challenging problems. Finally, the book addresses Cartwright's original attempts to clarify profound questions concerning the metaphysics of science.

With contributions from leading scholars, such as Ronald N. Giere and Paul Teller, this unique volume will be extremely useful to philosophers of science the world over.

Contents

Acknowledgments

1 Hoefer: Introducing Nancy Cartwright’s Philosophy of Science

Part I. Models and Representations

2 Bailer-Jones, D. Standing up Against Tradition: Models and Theories in Nancy Cartwright’s Philosophy of Science

Replies by Cartwright

    1. Gäehde, U. Nancy Cartwright on Theories, Models and Their Application to Reality: A Case Study

      2. Replies by Cartwright

    2. Morrison, M. Models as Representational Structures

      3. Replies by Cartwright

    3. Teller, P. The Finewright Theory

      4. Replies by Cartwright

      Part II. Causes and Capacities

    4. Giere, R. Models, Metaphysics and Methodology

      5. Replies by Cartwright

    5. Suarez, M. Experimental Realism Defended: How Inference to the Most Likely Cause Might Be Sound

      6. Replies by Cartwright

    6. Psillos, S. Cartwright’s Realist Toil: From Entities to Capacities

      7. Replies by Cartwright

    7. Woodward, J. Invariance, Modularity, And All That: Cartwright on Causation

      8. Replies by Cartwright

    8. Martel, I. The Principle of the Common Cause, The Causal Markov Condition, and Quantum Mechanics: Comments on Cartwright

      9. Replies by Cartwright

    9. Reiss, J. Social Capacities

      10. Replies by Cartwright

    10. Schmidt-Petri, C. Cartwright and Mill on Tendencies and Capacities

      11. Replies by Cartwright

      Part III. Antifundamentalism and the Disunity of Science

    11. Hoefer, C. For Fundamentalism

      12. Replies by Cartwright

    12. Esfeld, M. Cartwright on Wholism

      13. Replies by Cartwright

    13. Falkenburg, B. How Classical and Quantum States Relate: Cartwright’s Views of Quantum Theory

      14. Replies by Cartwright

    14. Nordmann, A. Getting the Causal Story Right: Hermeneutic Moments in Nancy Cartwright’s Philosophy of Science

Replies by Cartwright

Notes on Contributors

Index

Author Bio

Stephan Hartmann is Chair in Epistemology and Philosophy of Science in the Department of Philosophy at Tilburg University and Director of the Tilburg Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science.

Luc Bovens is Professor of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method at the London School of Economics.

Carl Hoefer is an ICREA Research Professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona

Name: Nancy Cartwright’s Philosophy of Science (Hardback) – Routledge 
Description: Edited by Luc Bovens, Carl Hoefer, Stephan Hartmann. Nancy Cartwright is one of the most distinguished and influential contemporary philosophers of science. Despite the profound impact of her work, there is neither a systematic exposition of Cartwright’s philosophy of science nor a collection of...
Categories: Economic Theory & Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Social Science