The main objective of this work is to establish the prominent role played by rationalism in the birth and growth of modern science. Other objectives are: 1. To highlight the relevance of rationalism in modern science and its contribution to knowledge. 2. To examine contributions from some rationalist philosophers whose works have strengthened the growth and development of modern science. 3. To show the diminishing influence of empiricism in modern science (Theory of relativity and Quantum m

Rectifying misrepresentations of Popperian thought with a historical approach to Popper’s philosophy, Gattei reconstructs the logic of Popper’s development to show how one problem and its tentative solution led to a new problem.

This remarkable collection of essays, diverse but united by the theme of critical reasoning, testifies to the attention and respect paid by the authors to the philosophical career of Gerard Radnitzky. We, too, greet Professor Radnitzky for his decades of intellectual labor devoted to the establishment of rational analysis of human problems. Not least of his concerns has been to understand what it is to be rational, to disentangle the apparently rational and the genuine, to separate dogma from justified belief, to cherish imagination while seeking its test. If Radnitzky has long been known for his careful elaboration of the spectrum of modem approaches to epistemology, those who have gathered to celebrate his work in this volume will also be widely known for their own writings on this matter of critical methodology. Their signposts (or are they warning lights?) will be familiar to thoughtful philosophers and scientists, and they appear as queries as we read these papers: the rational heuristic and the irrational heuristic? accepting the fallible? differing societies but one rational cognitive practice? accepting evidence which is placebogenic? choosing among the incommensurables? what remains of the logic of demarcation? purpose in nature? progress of science? rationality in politics? a humane reasonableness and a critical rationalism? Gunnar Andersson sets the focus well for the reader. We need not choose between dogmatism and relativism, he argues. And then he tells the political lesson: we might avoid both anarchy and despotism.

David Miller elegantly and provocatively reformulates critical rationalism—the revolutionary approach to epistemology advocated by Karl Popper—by answering its most important critics. He argues for an approach to rationality freed from the debilitating authoritarian dependence on reasons and justification. "Miller presents a particularly useful and stimulating account of critical rationalism. His work is both interesting and controversial . . . of interest to anyone with concerns in epistemology or the philosophy of science." —Canadian Philosophical Reviews

What is knowledge? Is it the same as opinion or truth? Do you need to be able to justify a claim in order to count as knowing it? How can we know that the outer world is real and not a dream? Questions like these have existed since ancient times, and the branch of philosophy dedicated to answering them - epistemology - has been active for thousands of years. In this thought-provoking Very Short Introduction, Jennifer Nagel considers the central problems and paradoxes in the theory of knowledge and draws attention to the ways in which philosophers and theorists have responded to them. By exploring the relationship between knowledge and truth, and considering the problem of scepticism, Nagel introduces a series of influential historical and contemporary theories of knowledge, incorporating methods from logic, linguistics, and psychology, using a number of everyday examples to demonstrate the key issues and debates. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.