Evolutionary Epistemology, Rationality, and the Sociology of Knowledge

Evolutionary Epistemology, Rationality, and the Sociology of Knowledge PDF Author: Karl Raimund Popper
Publisher: Open Court Publishing
ISBN: 9780812690392
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 500

Book Description
"Bartley and Radnitzky have done the philosophy of knowledge a tremendous service. Scholars now have a superb and up-to-date presentation of the fundamental ideas of evolutionary epistemology." --Philosophical Books

Evolutionary Epistemology, Rationality, and the Sociology of Knowledge

Evolutionary Epistemology, Rationality, and the Sociology of Knowledge PDF Author: William Warren Bartley
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780812650396
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 475

Book Description


Concepts and Approaches in Evolutionary Epistemology

Concepts and Approaches in Evolutionary Epistemology PDF Author: Franz M. Wuketits
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400971273
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 329

Book Description
The present volume brings together current interdisciplinary research which adds up to an evolutionary theory of human knowledge, Le. evolutionary epistemology. It comprises ten papers, dealing with the basic concepts, approaches and data in evolutionary epistemology and discussing some of their most important consequences. Because I am convinced that criticism, if not confused with mere polemics, is apt to stimulate the maturation of a scientific or philosophical theory, I invited Reinhard Low to present his critical view of evolutionary epistemology and to indicate some limits of our evolutionary conceptions. The main purpose of this book is to meet the urgent need of both science and philosophy for a comprehensive up-to-date approach to the problem of knowledge, going beyond the traditional disciplinary boundaries of scientific and philosophical thought. Evolutionary epistemology has emerged as a naturalistic and science-oriented view of knowledge taking cognizance of, and compatible with, results of biological, psychological, anthropological and linguistic inquiries concerning the structure and development of man's cognitive apparatus. Thus, evolutionary epistemology serves as a frame work for many contemporary discussions of the age-old problem of human knowledge.

Handbook of Epistemology

Handbook of Epistemology PDF Author: I. Niiniluoto
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9781402019852
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 1074

Book Description
The twenty-eight essays in this Handbook, all by leading experts in the field, provide the most extensive treatment of various epistemological problems, supplemented by a historical account of this field. The entries are self-contained and substantial contributions to topics such as the sources of knowledge and belief, knowledge acquisition, and truth and justification. There are extensive essays on knowledge in specific fields: the sciences, mathematics, the humanities and the social sciences, religion, and language. Special attention is paid to current discussions on evolutionary epistemology, relativism, the relation between epistemology and cognitive science, sociology of knowledge, epistemic logic, knowledge and art, and feminist epistemology. This collection is a must-have for anybody interested in human knowledge, and its fortunes and misfortunes.

Philosophical Darwinism

Philosophical Darwinism PDF Author: Peter Munz
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134884834
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Book Description
Philosophers have not taken the evolution of human beings seriously enough. If they did, argues Peter Munz, many long standing philosophical problems would be resolved. One of philosophical concequences of biology is that all the knowledge produced in evolution is a priori , i.e., established hypothetically by chance mutation and selective retention, not by observation and intelligent induction. For organisms as embodied theories, selection is natural and for theories as disembodied organisms, it is artificial. Following Popper, the growth of knowledge is seen to be continuous from the amoeba to Einstein'. Philosophical Darwinism throws a whole new light on many contemporary debates. It has damaging implications for cognitive science and artificial intelligence, and questions attempts from within biology to reduce mental events to neural processes. More importantly, it provides a rational postmodern alternative to what the author argues are the unreasonable postmodern fashions of Kuhn, Lyotard and Rorty.

Mapping Reality

Mapping Reality PDF Author: Jane Azevedo
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791495485
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 344

Book Description
With postmodernism and postructuralism sweeping the social sciences and humanities, a whole generation of students from disciplines as diverse as history, English literature, philosophy, sociology, and anthropology are learning that "truth" is bogus--a tired old liberal humanist fiction. Language is incapable of telling the truth, and science, nothing but a socially constructed discourse, functions to maintain the status quo. There is much to be said for this point of view, but ironically, relativists face precisely the same quandary, for if all claims to knowledge are equally valid, then de facto the knowledge claims of the most powerful are the ones disseminated and acted upon. This timely book offers a way out of the current realist/relativist impasse. Azevedo uses the insights of evolutionary epistemology to develop a naturalist realist methodology of science, the "mapping model of knowledge," and applies it to solving the conceptual, practical, and ethical problems faced by sociology as a discipline. The model is developed from the practice of the natural sciences, and comes with an easily applied and powerful heuristic based on mapping, filling the gap left by the downfall of positivist and empiricist methodologies. It shows the inescapably social nature of science, but argues that scientific theories can in fact be validated in perspective-neutral ways --not despite the social and interest-driven nature of science, but because of it.

Evolutionary Epistemology and its Implications for Humankind

Evolutionary Epistemology and its Implications for Humankind PDF Author: Franz M. Wuketits
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438424515
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Book Description
This books aims to outline the scientific (biological) foundations of evolutionary epistemology, and to discuss its implications for humankind. Wuketits covers all aspects of evolutionary epistemology, including its empirical foundations and its philosophical and anthropological consequences, providng an accessible introduction with a minimum of jargon.

Evolution, Cognition, and Realism

Evolution, Cognition, and Realism PDF Author: Nicholas Rescher
Publisher: University Press of America
ISBN: 9780819177551
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 148

Book Description
This collection of essays originated from an interdisciplinary conference on 'Evolutionary Epistemology' held in Pittsburgh in December of 1988 under the sponsorship of the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Philosophy of Science. Contents: Epistemological Roles for Selection Theory, by Donald T. Campbell; Evolutionary Models of Science, by Ronald N. Giere; Should Epistemologists Take Darwin Seriously? by Michael Bradie; Natural Selection, Justification, and Inference to the Best Explanation, by Alan H. Goldman; Interspecific Competition, Evolutionary Epistemology, and Ecology, by Kristin Shrader-Frechette; Toward Making Evolutionary Epistemology into a Truly Naturalized Epistemology, by William Bechtel; Confessions of a Creationist, by C. Kenneth Waters. Co-published with the Center for Philosophy of Science.

From Belief to Knowledge

From Belief to Knowledge PDF Author: Neil Douglas
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1439885176
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 322

Book Description
Belief is not knowledge, but we tend to hold our beliefs as if they represent knowledge, selecting whatever evidence is required to justify them. And because humans tend to cling to their beliefs as truths, organizations often ignore the need for change, no matter how urgent that need. From Belief to Knowledge: Achieving and Sustaining an Adaptive Culture in Organizations offers potential change agents an integrative analysis and treatment of the problem of organizational learning. It demonstrates the importance of looking beneath beliefs and assumptions to find the roots and persistent influences that preserve them. It gives us a much broader definition of organizational knowledge than that associated with information technology and the currently popular idea of knowledge as an asset. Furthermore, it provides an alternative view of culture and change, one that is defined by the ability to continually align collective beliefs with reality. "Douglas and Wykowski...answer the question that lingers in the minds of many managers – What does organizational learning mean and how does it influence ongoing organizational success?" – Lee Newick, Shell Downstream Rather than offer simple recipes, this book shows how good leaders can evolve and sustain an adaptive culture that develops knowledge through purposeful human interaction. It explores key dynamics of learning, considers the diversity of beliefs present in any group, and demonstrates ways that those leaders can explore and encourage the potential of both the group and individuals within the group. "Although this book is geared to organizational change, it has the potential to change all areas of human endeavor." – David Julian Hodges, City University of New York

Theories of Scientific Progress

Theories of Scientific Progress PDF Author: John Losee
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9780415320665
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 200

Book Description
There seems little doubt that we have made progress in scientific theories, but how? Theories of Scientific Progress presents the arguments, covers interpretations of scientific progress and discusses the latest contemporary debates.