The Philosophy of Science in a European Perspective (PSE)

Summary

A long-lasting tradition of investigations on the nature of scientific knowledge took shape in Europe at the beginning of the last century. Such a tradition started within a wide range of different disciplines, and in a number of different European countries.

This scientific movement, involving Central Logical Empiricism in Vienna, Berlin and Prague, was strongly interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary. It produced an extended and stimulating literature and prepared the ground for a wide array of reflections on the structure of science, its aim and limits. Investigating the methods and the foundations of science from a European perspective does neither presuppose nor support or encourage chauvinist claims of superiority, but merely expresses recognition of an undeniable historical fact: European culture entered into the discourse on science from its very beginning.

Even though Europe is no longer alone in setting the parameters for discourse in and about science, during the last few decades a renewed and increasing interest in foundational and methodological issues has again been shown by scholars all over Europe.  

This research networking programme focuses on the philosophy and foundations of the natural and social sciences and aims at enhancing European tradition in the philosophy of science. Its ultimate goal is to promote exchanges between scholars from all over Europe, in order to build up a network of strong and durable relations to broaden and deepen the current debate on the topic.

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Duration

Five years from 1 May 2008 until 30 April 2013

Publication

Volume 1 : The present situation in the philosophy of science

Dennis Dieks, Wenceslao J.Gonzàlez, Stephan Hartmann, Thomas Uebel, Marcel Weber

About this book: this volume is a serious attempt to open up the subject of European philosophy of science to real thought, and provide the structural basis for the interdisciplinary development of its specialist fields, but also to provoke reflection on the idea of ‘European philosophy of science’. This efforts should foster a contemporaneous reflection on what might be meant by philosophy of science in Europe and European philosophy of science, and how in fact awareness of it could assist philosophers interpret and motivate their research through a stronger collective identity. The overarching aim is to set the background for a collaborative project organising, systematising, and ultimately forging an identity for, European philosophy of science by creating research structures and developing research networks across Europe to promote its development. As such under the general rubric of ‘the present situation in the philosophy of science’, the emphasis is on as a first step identifying traditions and research structures already present, and the directions in which this research was leading. The European perspective in philosophy of science is the inclusion of the historical roots of current debates and the focus on methodological problems that cross the various sub-disciplines. This historical dimension is complemented by the evident broad scope of European philosophy of science which embodies not only a strong tradition of history and philosophy of science, history of philosophy of science, but also philosophy with respect to the cultural and social sciences as part of (not separate to) the discipline, combined with more traditional philosophical issues and approaches, such as the application of formal methods, the problem of realism, determinism and chance or the natural kinds debate. This consideration of general philosophical questions in science is married to a strong tradition of engaging naturalistically with the particular philosophical issues in individual sciences where there exists a prerogative of being closely schooled in the relevant scientific theory and research context. Additionally, one can refer to particular positions, like ‘structural realism’, as ‘European’, having their origin and their centre of pursuit, and indeed their historical links, in the context of European research.

ISBN 978-90-481-9114-7

To order go to website : Springer Publisher


Volume 2 : Explanations, Prediction, and  Confirmation

Dennis Dieks, Wenceslao J.Gonzàlez, Stephan Hartmann, Thomas Uebel, Marcel Weber. Editors

This volume, the second in the Springer series Philosophy of Science in a European Perspective, contains selected papers from the workshops organised by the ESF Research Networking Programme PSE (The Philosophy of Science in a European Perspective) in 2009.

Five general topics are addressed:
1. Formal Methods in the Philosophy of Science;
2. Philosophy of the Natural and Life Sciences;
3. Philosophy of the Cultural and Social Sciences;
4. Philosophy of the Physical Sciences;
5. History of the Philosophy of Science.


This volume is accordingly divided in five sections, each section containing papers coming from the meetings focussing on one of these five themes. However,  these sections are not completely independent and detached from each other. For example, an important connecting thread running through a substantial number of papers in this volume is the concept of probability: probability plays a central role in present-day discussions in formal epistemology, in the philosophy of the physical sciences, and in general methodological debates---it is central in discussions concerning explanation, prediction and confirmation. The volume thus also attempts to represent the intellectual exchange between the various fields in the philosophy of science that was central in the ESF workshops

About this book: ISBN 978-94-007-1179-2

To order go to website : Springer Publisher


Volume 3 : Probabilities, Laws, and Structures

Dieks, D.; Gonzalez, W.J.; Hartmann, S.; Stöltzner, M.; Weber, M. (Eds.)

Dennis Dieks, Wenceslao J.Gonzàlez, Stephan Hartmann, S. Stöltzner, Marcel Weber

This volume, the third in this Springer series, contains selected papers from the four workshops organized by the ESF Research Networking Programme "The Philosophy of Science in a European Perspective" (PSE) in 2010: Pluralism in the Foundations of Statistics Points of Contact between the Philosophy of Physics and the Philosophy of Biology The Debate on Mathematical Modeling in the Social Sciences Historical Debates about Logic, Probability and Statistics The volume is accordingly divided in four sections, each of them containing papers coming from the workshop focussing on one of these themes. While the programme's core topic for the year 2010 was probability and statistics, the organizers of the workshops embraced the opportunity of building bridges to more or less closely connected issues in general philosophy of science, philosophy of physics and philosophy of the special sciences. However, papers that analyze the concept of probability for various philosophical purposes are clearly a major theme in this volume, as it was in the previous volumes of the same series. This reflects the impressive productivity of probabilistic approaches in the philosophy of science, which form an important part of what has become known as formal epistemology - although, of course, there are non-probabilistic approaches in formal epistemology as well. It is probably fair to say that Europe has been particularly strong in this area of philosophy in recent years.

About this book: ISBN 978-94-007-3029-8

To order please go to website: Springer publisher.

Please also note the following series which stems from Professor Gonzalez and Team C, ‘The Philosophy of the Cultural and Social Sciences’. The series is entitled Gallaecia: Studies in Contemporary Philosophy and Methodology of Science, with publications stemming from the annual conference organised at the University of A Coruña, as well as other publications that stem from Team C’s research. Please click here for information.