Sachse Reductionism in the Philosophy of Science

1. Auflage 2013
ISBN: 978-3-11-032332-0
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, Band 11, 330 Seiten

Reihe: Epistemische Studien / Epistemic Studies

In contemporary philosophy of science, ontological reductionism, or the claim that everything that exists in the world is something physical, is the consensus mainstream position. Contrary to a widespread belief, this book establishes that ontological and epistemological reductionism stand or fall together. The author proposes a new strategy of conservative theory reduction that operates by means of the construction of functional sub-concepts that are coextensional with physical concepts. Thus, a complete conservative reductionism is established that vindicates both the indispensable scientific character of the special sciences and their reducibility to physics. The second part of the book works this strategy out, using the example of classical and molecular genetics.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Sachse, Christian

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Wissenschaften: Theorie, Epistemologie, Methodik
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Wissenschaftstheorie, Wissenschaftsphilosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Table of contents;5
2;Acknowledgements;9
3;0. Overview of the general part;11
4;I. Ontological reductionism;19
5;II. Epistemological reductionism;67
6;III. Complete conservative reductionism;170
7;IV. Overview of the biological part;187
8;V. Classical genetics;211
9;VI. Molecular genetics;235
10;VII. Reduction of classical genetics tomolecular genetics;261
11;References;310
12;Index;328
13;Blank Page;2