Rein Taagepera
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199534661
- eISBN:
- 9780191715921
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199534661.003.0017
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics, Political Economy
Some aspects of social sciences can be made more predictive and, in this sense, more like natural sciences. Electoral studies have many variables with a natural zero (ratio variables), which makes ...
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Some aspects of social sciences can be made more predictive and, in this sense, more like natural sciences. Electoral studies have many variables with a natural zero (ratio variables), which makes them amenable to certain types of logical model building and sets them apart from other social sciences. Still, plenty of ratio variables occur in other social sciences too, and here electoral studies may offer valuable methodological tips. From temperature to political involvement, looser scales sometimes have a way to turn into ratio scales, if we dare to play with them.Less
Some aspects of social sciences can be made more predictive and, in this sense, more like natural sciences. Electoral studies have many variables with a natural zero (ratio variables), which makes them amenable to certain types of logical model building and sets them apart from other social sciences. Still, plenty of ratio variables occur in other social sciences too, and here electoral studies may offer valuable methodological tips. From temperature to political involvement, looser scales sometimes have a way to turn into ratio scales, if we dare to play with them.
Paul Guyer
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199273461
- eISBN:
- 9780191706196
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199273461.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, General
The chapters in the first part of this book explore Kant's conception of the systematicity of concepts and laws as the ultimate goals of natural science, explore the implications of Kant's account of ...
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The chapters in the first part of this book explore Kant's conception of the systematicity of concepts and laws as the ultimate goals of natural science, explore the implications of Kant's account of our experience of organisms for the goal of a unified science, and examine Kant's attempt to prove the existence of an ether as the condition of the possibility of experience of the physical world. The second group of chapters explore Kant's conception of a systematic union of persons as ends in themselves and of their particular ends as the object of morality, and examine his conception of the systems of political and ethical duties necessary to achieve such an end. The third group of chapters examine Kant's attempt to unify the systems of nature and freedom through a radical transformation of traditional teleology.Less
The chapters in the first part of this book explore Kant's conception of the systematicity of concepts and laws as the ultimate goals of natural science, explore the implications of Kant's account of our experience of organisms for the goal of a unified science, and examine Kant's attempt to prove the existence of an ether as the condition of the possibility of experience of the physical world. The second group of chapters explore Kant's conception of a systematic union of persons as ends in themselves and of their particular ends as the object of morality, and examine his conception of the systems of political and ethical duties necessary to achieve such an end. The third group of chapters examine Kant's attempt to unify the systems of nature and freedom through a radical transformation of traditional teleology.
John P. Herron
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195383546
- eISBN:
- 9780199870523
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195383546.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, American History: 20th Century
This chapter focuses on the life of Clarence King. Among the first generation of academically trained scientists in America, King had many options. He could follow the path of many of his classmates ...
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This chapter focuses on the life of Clarence King. Among the first generation of academically trained scientists in America, King had many options. He could follow the path of many of his classmates and continue graduate study abroad, he could begin a career as a scientific writer, or he could take his place as a professor of science at virtually any school in the country. Although his training emphasized traditional outlets and institutions, King chose a different course. He went into the natural world; not as a retreat from society, but as a means of political engagement.Less
This chapter focuses on the life of Clarence King. Among the first generation of academically trained scientists in America, King had many options. He could follow the path of many of his classmates and continue graduate study abroad, he could begin a career as a scientific writer, or he could take his place as a professor of science at virtually any school in the country. Although his training emphasized traditional outlets and institutions, King chose a different course. He went into the natural world; not as a retreat from society, but as a means of political engagement.
John P. Herron
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195383546
- eISBN:
- 9780199870523
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195383546.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, American History: 20th Century
This chapter continues the discussion of the life of Rachel Carson. Human interaction with the nonhuman world was at the foundation of Carson's environmental vision. Her childhood nature writing, for ...
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This chapter continues the discussion of the life of Rachel Carson. Human interaction with the nonhuman world was at the foundation of Carson's environmental vision. Her childhood nature writing, for example, focused on her ordinary surroundings. During her collegiate training, her scientific knowledge of nature increased, but analysis predicated on personal experience, on the beach and in the tide pools, was still most rewarding. Carson expected natural scientists to reveal the social uses of American biology. Her critics, however, labeled her a “generalist” and a “popularizer” and relegated her vision of natural science to the domain of the amateur.Less
This chapter continues the discussion of the life of Rachel Carson. Human interaction with the nonhuman world was at the foundation of Carson's environmental vision. Her childhood nature writing, for example, focused on her ordinary surroundings. During her collegiate training, her scientific knowledge of nature increased, but analysis predicated on personal experience, on the beach and in the tide pools, was still most rewarding. Carson expected natural scientists to reveal the social uses of American biology. Her critics, however, labeled her a “generalist” and a “popularizer” and relegated her vision of natural science to the domain of the amateur.
Kevin C. Karnes
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195368666
- eISBN:
- 9780199867547
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195368666.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter examines the calls made by Eduard Hanslick and Guido Adler to transform the study of music after the model of the natural sciences in light of statements on science and historical study ...
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This chapter examines the calls made by Eduard Hanslick and Guido Adler to transform the study of music after the model of the natural sciences in light of statements on science and historical study published by Wilhelm Windelband, Moriz Thausing, and other 19th-century theorists of method. It argues that polemics such as Hanslick's On the Musically Beautiful inspired and reflected considerable confusion and disagreement among critics and scholars with respect to methodologies and ideologies of music research. It examines Adler's use of the term Musikwissenschaft or the “science of music,” arguing that he intended it to connote not the literal emulation of research methods associated with the natural sciences but the application of a mode of investigation that valorized empirical observation and inductive reasoning. It concludes by suggesting that many late-century writers on music, including Hanslick, Schenker, and Adler himself, harbored ambivalent attitudes toward such scientifically inspired approaches and methods.Less
This chapter examines the calls made by Eduard Hanslick and Guido Adler to transform the study of music after the model of the natural sciences in light of statements on science and historical study published by Wilhelm Windelband, Moriz Thausing, and other 19th-century theorists of method. It argues that polemics such as Hanslick's On the Musically Beautiful inspired and reflected considerable confusion and disagreement among critics and scholars with respect to methodologies and ideologies of music research. It examines Adler's use of the term Musikwissenschaft or the “science of music,” arguing that he intended it to connote not the literal emulation of research methods associated with the natural sciences but the application of a mode of investigation that valorized empirical observation and inductive reasoning. It concludes by suggesting that many late-century writers on music, including Hanslick, Schenker, and Adler himself, harbored ambivalent attitudes toward such scientifically inspired approaches and methods.
John P. Herron
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195383546
- eISBN:
- 9780199870523
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195383546.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, American History: 20th Century
This chapter continues the discussion of the life of Clarence King. King's search for natural truths bore the imprint of John Ruskin, but his obsession with masculine science and adventure as a means ...
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This chapter continues the discussion of the life of Clarence King. King's search for natural truths bore the imprint of John Ruskin, but his obsession with masculine science and adventure as a means of social integration and improvement originated with John Tyndall. He embraced nature as a microcosm of American society. As one of the many geologists who moved through the physical world, he was supposed to uncover mineral resources. Yet he saw his science as one way to impose a grid of order on contemporary America.Less
This chapter continues the discussion of the life of Clarence King. King's search for natural truths bore the imprint of John Ruskin, but his obsession with masculine science and adventure as a means of social integration and improvement originated with John Tyndall. He embraced nature as a microcosm of American society. As one of the many geologists who moved through the physical world, he was supposed to uncover mineral resources. Yet he saw his science as one way to impose a grid of order on contemporary America.
John P. Herron
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195383546
- eISBN:
- 9780199870523
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195383546.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, American History: 20th Century
This chapter focuses on the life of Rachel Carson. In late summer of 1929, 22-year-old Rachel Carson arrived at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. A recent graduate ...
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This chapter focuses on the life of Rachel Carson. In late summer of 1929, 22-year-old Rachel Carson arrived at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. A recent graduate of the Pennsylvania College for Women, Carson came to the MBL as a “beginning investigator”, to study reptilian nerve systems. By the time Carson left Woods Hole, biology and its social implications were well known. When Carson established herself as natural scientist, her role as a scientist defined her social position. Her scientific credibility was (and often still is) debated, an issue greatly affected by the contemporary politics of gender, but her acceptance of the social responsibility of the scientist was not. Promoting a socially engaged understanding of natural science was something she had anticipated and prepared for much of her life.Less
This chapter focuses on the life of Rachel Carson. In late summer of 1929, 22-year-old Rachel Carson arrived at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. A recent graduate of the Pennsylvania College for Women, Carson came to the MBL as a “beginning investigator”, to study reptilian nerve systems. By the time Carson left Woods Hole, biology and its social implications were well known. When Carson established herself as natural scientist, her role as a scientist defined her social position. Her scientific credibility was (and often still is) debated, an issue greatly affected by the contemporary politics of gender, but her acceptance of the social responsibility of the scientist was not. Promoting a socially engaged understanding of natural science was something she had anticipated and prepared for much of her life.
Eric Watkins (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195133059
- eISBN:
- 9780199786169
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195133056.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
Kant’s contributions to the central problems of philosophy — metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics — have received considerable attention. What is far less studied is his interest in the ...
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Kant’s contributions to the central problems of philosophy — metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics — have received considerable attention. What is far less studied is his interest in the sciences. This book reveals the deep unity of Kant’s conception of science as it bears on the particular sciences of his day (such as physics, chemistry, anthropology, history, psychology, and biology), and on his conception of philosophy’s function with respect to them. This collection of twelve essays consider different aspects of Kant’s conception of science.Less
Kant’s contributions to the central problems of philosophy — metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics — have received considerable attention. What is far less studied is his interest in the sciences. This book reveals the deep unity of Kant’s conception of science as it bears on the particular sciences of his day (such as physics, chemistry, anthropology, history, psychology, and biology), and on his conception of philosophy’s function with respect to them. This collection of twelve essays consider different aspects of Kant’s conception of science.
John P. Herron
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195383546
- eISBN:
- 9780199870523
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195383546.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, American History: 20th Century
This chapter continues the discussion of the life of Robert Marshall. In the first two decades of the century, many Jews, native and foreign-born, shared in the growth opportunities available in ...
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This chapter continues the discussion of the life of Robert Marshall. In the first two decades of the century, many Jews, native and foreign-born, shared in the growth opportunities available in America. In the 1920s, these same Jews witnessed a “closing of the gates” as prejudice reached new levels. Robert Marshall felt much of this increasing hostility. He possessed the resources, intelligence, and training required to enter mainstream American society, but in a culture of separation, opportunity did not always equate to easy access. Marshall was at once a forester, a politician, and an agent of modern American science. For him, nature became an arena of activity as he turned to the physical world to situate himself within American society and to support his vision for a progressive America.Less
This chapter continues the discussion of the life of Robert Marshall. In the first two decades of the century, many Jews, native and foreign-born, shared in the growth opportunities available in America. In the 1920s, these same Jews witnessed a “closing of the gates” as prejudice reached new levels. Robert Marshall felt much of this increasing hostility. He possessed the resources, intelligence, and training required to enter mainstream American society, but in a culture of separation, opportunity did not always equate to easy access. Marshall was at once a forester, a politician, and an agent of modern American science. For him, nature became an arena of activity as he turned to the physical world to situate himself within American society and to support his vision for a progressive America.
Janet Howarth
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199510177
- eISBN:
- 9780191700972
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199510177.003.0020
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
The reputation of Oxford science deteriorated sharply in the half-century following the Commissions of the 1870s. The Devonshire Commission had bestowed qualified praise on both Oxford and Cambridge ...
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The reputation of Oxford science deteriorated sharply in the half-century following the Commissions of the 1870s. The Devonshire Commission had bestowed qualified praise on both Oxford and Cambridge for their efforts to promote the natural sciences. But the Asquith Commission was to contrast the distinction of Cambridge University in science education and basic research with a catalogue of Oxford University's defects. After the high hopes raised by the opening of the University Museum and the Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford science failed to keep pace with developments at Cambridge. Schoolmasters had long advised their pupils to go to Cambridge for mathematics, but the tradition ‘Cambridge for Science, Oxford for Arts’ — which retained its hold in the public and grammar schools long after the 20th-century revival of the science departments at Oxford — had its origin in the late Victorian era. From a national perspective it could, of course, be argued that netther university responded adequately to the growing industrial need for scientists.Less
The reputation of Oxford science deteriorated sharply in the half-century following the Commissions of the 1870s. The Devonshire Commission had bestowed qualified praise on both Oxford and Cambridge for their efforts to promote the natural sciences. But the Asquith Commission was to contrast the distinction of Cambridge University in science education and basic research with a catalogue of Oxford University's defects. After the high hopes raised by the opening of the University Museum and the Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford science failed to keep pace with developments at Cambridge. Schoolmasters had long advised their pupils to go to Cambridge for mathematics, but the tradition ‘Cambridge for Science, Oxford for Arts’ — which retained its hold in the public and grammar schools long after the 20th-century revival of the science departments at Oxford — had its origin in the late Victorian era. From a national perspective it could, of course, be argued that netther university responded adequately to the growing industrial need for scientists.
Nicholas Rescher
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199261826
- eISBN:
- 9780191698781
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199261826.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology, Philosophy of Science
Nature and Understanding explores the prospect of looking from a scientific point of view at such central ideas of traditional metaphysics as the simplicity of nature, its ...
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Nature and Understanding explores the prospect of looking from a scientific point of view at such central ideas of traditional metaphysics as the simplicity of nature, its comprehensibility, or its systematic integrity. It draws together the philosophy of science, metaphysics and epistemology to study the relationship between what there is and how we can understand it. The author seeks to describe — in a way accessible to philosophers and non-philosophers alike — the metaphysical situation that characterizes the process of inquiry in natural science. His principal aim is to see what light can be shed on reality by examining the modus operandi of natural science itself, focusing as much on its findings as on its conceptual and methodological presuppositions.Less
Nature and Understanding explores the prospect of looking from a scientific point of view at such central ideas of traditional metaphysics as the simplicity of nature, its comprehensibility, or its systematic integrity. It draws together the philosophy of science, metaphysics and epistemology to study the relationship between what there is and how we can understand it. The author seeks to describe — in a way accessible to philosophers and non-philosophers alike — the metaphysical situation that characterizes the process of inquiry in natural science. His principal aim is to see what light can be shed on reality by examining the modus operandi of natural science itself, focusing as much on its findings as on its conceptual and methodological presuppositions.
Maurice S. Lee
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199797578
- eISBN:
- 9780199932412
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199797578.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 19th Century Literature
This chapter focuses on the radical empiricism of Walden, Thoreau’s journals, and his later scientific writings. As an artist, philosopher, surveyor, fisherman, and naturalist, Thoreau comes to ...
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This chapter focuses on the radical empiricism of Walden, Thoreau’s journals, and his later scientific writings. As an artist, philosopher, surveyor, fisherman, and naturalist, Thoreau comes to accept the uncertainty of chance and its imperatives for the conduct of life, even as—like John Ruskin, Charles Darwin, and William James—he engages in the probabilistic management of nature. Thoreau learns over the course of his career that natural science is not strictly a positivist enterprise but, rather, a probabilistic pursuit in which to measure under conditions of chance is not precisely to know. Thoreau’s disciplined commitments to the handling of chance distance him from the transcendentalism of Ralph Waldo Emerson and help him bridge the worrisome divide between his science and art.Less
This chapter focuses on the radical empiricism of Walden, Thoreau’s journals, and his later scientific writings. As an artist, philosopher, surveyor, fisherman, and naturalist, Thoreau comes to accept the uncertainty of chance and its imperatives for the conduct of life, even as—like John Ruskin, Charles Darwin, and William James—he engages in the probabilistic management of nature. Thoreau learns over the course of his career that natural science is not strictly a positivist enterprise but, rather, a probabilistic pursuit in which to measure under conditions of chance is not precisely to know. Thoreau’s disciplined commitments to the handling of chance distance him from the transcendentalism of Ralph Waldo Emerson and help him bridge the worrisome divide between his science and art.
Kevin Karnes
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195368666
- eISBN:
- 9780199867547
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195368666.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This book provides a first look at the ideological dilemmas and methodological anxieties that pervaded the discipline of musicology (in German, Musikwissenschaft, encompassing music theory, analysis, ...
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This book provides a first look at the ideological dilemmas and methodological anxieties that pervaded the discipline of musicology (in German, Musikwissenschaft, encompassing music theory, analysis, and the study of music history) at the time and place of its academic institutionalization. Engaging in close readings of key contributions by Eduard Hanslick, Heinrich Schenker, and Guido Adler, all leading pioneers in the field, it argues against the widely held assumption that German musicology of the period was characterized, first and foremost, by a positivist endeavor to transform the discipline after the model of the natural sciences. Instead, it suggests that the work of its three central figures was shaped not only by progressivist ideologies of scientific positivism but also, and just as profoundly, by the skeptical pronouncements of Richard Wagner, Friedrich Nietzsche, and other critical observers of modern culture. It furthermore suggests that some of the most pressing questions regarding musicology's disciplinary identities in the present day—about the relationship between musicology and criticism, the role of the subject in analysis and the narration of history, and the responsibilities of the scholar to the listening public—have points of origin in the discipline's conflicted and largely forgotten beginnings.Less
This book provides a first look at the ideological dilemmas and methodological anxieties that pervaded the discipline of musicology (in German, Musikwissenschaft, encompassing music theory, analysis, and the study of music history) at the time and place of its academic institutionalization. Engaging in close readings of key contributions by Eduard Hanslick, Heinrich Schenker, and Guido Adler, all leading pioneers in the field, it argues against the widely held assumption that German musicology of the period was characterized, first and foremost, by a positivist endeavor to transform the discipline after the model of the natural sciences. Instead, it suggests that the work of its three central figures was shaped not only by progressivist ideologies of scientific positivism but also, and just as profoundly, by the skeptical pronouncements of Richard Wagner, Friedrich Nietzsche, and other critical observers of modern culture. It furthermore suggests that some of the most pressing questions regarding musicology's disciplinary identities in the present day—about the relationship between musicology and criticism, the role of the subject in analysis and the narration of history, and the responsibilities of the scholar to the listening public—have points of origin in the discipline's conflicted and largely forgotten beginnings.
John P. Herron
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195383546
- eISBN:
- 9780199870523
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195383546.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, American History: 20th Century
This chapter focuses on the life of Robert Marshall. Marshall dedicated his career to expanding the application of the natural sciences, especially his field of forestry. He recognized the primary ...
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This chapter focuses on the life of Robert Marshall. Marshall dedicated his career to expanding the application of the natural sciences, especially his field of forestry. He recognized the primary flaw in progressive conservation: emphasizing nature's use made all questions of nature's value economic. He pushed scientists to understand the larger implications and social significance of their work. Most Americans knew nature only through limited personal experience. But like Clarence King, Robert Marshall believed that scientific study provided a unified and more complete picture of social relations and of the importance of nature to social health. The ideal product of such study was the modern American, an individual who understood that better living came through intimate contact with the natural world. Broadcasting this message on a wide scale would occupy the rest of his life.Less
This chapter focuses on the life of Robert Marshall. Marshall dedicated his career to expanding the application of the natural sciences, especially his field of forestry. He recognized the primary flaw in progressive conservation: emphasizing nature's use made all questions of nature's value economic. He pushed scientists to understand the larger implications and social significance of their work. Most Americans knew nature only through limited personal experience. But like Clarence King, Robert Marshall believed that scientific study provided a unified and more complete picture of social relations and of the importance of nature to social health. The ideal product of such study was the modern American, an individual who understood that better living came through intimate contact with the natural world. Broadcasting this message on a wide scale would occupy the rest of his life.
Thomas F. Torrance
- Published in print:
- 1981
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198266587
- eISBN:
- 9780191683053
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198266587.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
The basic problem in the relations between theological science and natural science has to do with a deep paradox at the heart of natural science itself. The understanding of the contingent nature of ...
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The basic problem in the relations between theological science and natural science has to do with a deep paradox at the heart of natural science itself. The understanding of the contingent nature of the cosmos, upon which all empirico-theoretical inquiry rests, derives not from natural science but from Judaeo–Christian theology, i.e., from logical reasoning. The paradox may be succinctly formulated in terms of two classical statements of Reformed theology: nothing can be established about contingence except through divine revelation, and, divine creation requires one to investigate the contingent world out of its own natural processes alone, without including God in the given. This chapter takes a closer look at the idea of contingence as it derives from Christian theology, and examines in some detail the reactions of natural science to it.Less
The basic problem in the relations between theological science and natural science has to do with a deep paradox at the heart of natural science itself. The understanding of the contingent nature of the cosmos, upon which all empirico-theoretical inquiry rests, derives not from natural science but from Judaeo–Christian theology, i.e., from logical reasoning. The paradox may be succinctly formulated in terms of two classical statements of Reformed theology: nothing can be established about contingence except through divine revelation, and, divine creation requires one to investigate the contingent world out of its own natural processes alone, without including God in the given. This chapter takes a closer look at the idea of contingence as it derives from Christian theology, and examines in some detail the reactions of natural science to it.
John P. Herron
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195383546
- eISBN:
- 9780199870523
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195383546.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, American History: 20th Century
This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the author. It argues that nature continues to serve as a foundation for American political values, with natural science acting as guide. Key to ...
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This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the author. It argues that nature continues to serve as a foundation for American political values, with natural science acting as guide. Key to its modern appeal is an understanding of science as an objective form of knowledge located within the authoritative natural world. The challenge for scientists and citizens alike is to recognize how much of our search for answers in the physical environment is not based on the ability of science to reveal what nature intended but is, rather, a necessary product of human relations in a social environment.Less
This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the author. It argues that nature continues to serve as a foundation for American political values, with natural science acting as guide. Key to its modern appeal is an understanding of science as an objective form of knowledge located within the authoritative natural world. The challenge for scientists and citizens alike is to recognize how much of our search for answers in the physical environment is not based on the ability of science to reveal what nature intended but is, rather, a necessary product of human relations in a social environment.
Gary Hatfield
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520200104
- eISBN:
- 9780520916227
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520200104.003.0007
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Theory and Practice
Although the philosophers of the seventeenth century rejected the Aristotelian theory of the soul as the substantial form of the body, they did not always deviate from the Aristotelian conception of ...
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Although the philosophers of the seventeenth century rejected the Aristotelian theory of the soul as the substantial form of the body, they did not always deviate from the Aristotelian conception of physics as the science of nature in general, including the human mind. The equation of natural science with antimetaphysical, quantitative experimentation is problematic on two counts. As an approach to history, it partakes of the worst failings of “presentism”; it ignores the self-understanding of earlier figures who considered themselves practitioners of natural science. Philosophically, it makes a crude positivist assumption that all progress in science is progress in the quantitative description of natural phenomena. This philosophical position should be resisted: not all natural scientific achievements are fundamentally quantitative, including achievements in two sciences that are closely related to psychology, namely, physiology and biology.Less
Although the philosophers of the seventeenth century rejected the Aristotelian theory of the soul as the substantial form of the body, they did not always deviate from the Aristotelian conception of physics as the science of nature in general, including the human mind. The equation of natural science with antimetaphysical, quantitative experimentation is problematic on two counts. As an approach to history, it partakes of the worst failings of “presentism”; it ignores the self-understanding of earlier figures who considered themselves practitioners of natural science. Philosophically, it makes a crude positivist assumption that all progress in science is progress in the quantitative description of natural phenomena. This philosophical position should be resisted: not all natural scientific achievements are fundamentally quantitative, including achievements in two sciences that are closely related to psychology, namely, physiology and biology.
Linda Waite
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195324273
- eISBN:
- 9780199893966
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195324273.003.0018
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology
This chapter presents an overview of the two chapters (Chapter 14-15) in Part IV of the book. Both chapters point to the merging of questions, theories, and approaches from natural and social ...
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This chapter presents an overview of the two chapters (Chapter 14-15) in Part IV of the book. Both chapters point to the merging of questions, theories, and approaches from natural and social sciences as an essential step in the process of scientific advancement. Both point to a fundamental melding across disciplines, rather than a simple joint venture. And both describe major advances in the understanding about the nature of health and longevity.Less
This chapter presents an overview of the two chapters (Chapter 14-15) in Part IV of the book. Both chapters point to the merging of questions, theories, and approaches from natural and social sciences as an essential step in the process of scientific advancement. Both point to a fundamental melding across disciplines, rather than a simple joint venture. And both describe major advances in the understanding about the nature of health and longevity.
D. Jason Slone
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195169263
- eISBN:
- 9780199835256
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195169263.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
Most people are aware of the existence of theological incorrectness, but often dismiss it as a harmless bit of folk religion. Theological correctness, however, challenges every bit of conventional ...
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Most people are aware of the existence of theological incorrectness, but often dismiss it as a harmless bit of folk religion. Theological correctness, however, challenges every bit of conventional wisdom, as well as a great deal of scholarship on religion and how it works. Since theological incorrectness is natural, it can be analyzed by means of the methods employed by natural science.Less
Most people are aware of the existence of theological incorrectness, but often dismiss it as a harmless bit of folk religion. Theological correctness, however, challenges every bit of conventional wisdom, as well as a great deal of scholarship on religion and how it works. Since theological incorrectness is natural, it can be analyzed by means of the methods employed by natural science.
J. D. Trout
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195107661
- eISBN:
- 9780199786152
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195107667.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This introductory chapter leads the reader through the major positions, issues, and disputes in 20th century philosophy of science, and describes the evidential conditions that authorize an argument ...
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This introductory chapter leads the reader through the major positions, issues, and disputes in 20th century philosophy of science, and describes the evidential conditions that authorize an argument for realism about the social and behavioral sciences. Realist interpretations of the entities, laws, and theories of the natural sciences have become familiar fare for contemporary philosophers of science. Along with their empiricist and various antirealist opponents, realists draw their evidence exclusively from the mature sciences of physics, chemistry, and biology. However, the cumulative effect has been the nearly universal neglect of the social sciences and psychology in this dispute. It is argued that despite the empiricism taught from textbooks in psychology and the social sciences, only a realist understanding of scientific theories can account for the success of quantitative methods in the social sciences and psychology.Less
This introductory chapter leads the reader through the major positions, issues, and disputes in 20th century philosophy of science, and describes the evidential conditions that authorize an argument for realism about the social and behavioral sciences. Realist interpretations of the entities, laws, and theories of the natural sciences have become familiar fare for contemporary philosophers of science. Along with their empiricist and various antirealist opponents, realists draw their evidence exclusively from the mature sciences of physics, chemistry, and biology. However, the cumulative effect has been the nearly universal neglect of the social sciences and psychology in this dispute. It is argued that despite the empiricism taught from textbooks in psychology and the social sciences, only a realist understanding of scientific theories can account for the success of quantitative methods in the social sciences and psychology.
