Foundational Problems in the Special Sciences

Front Cover
Robert E. Butts, Jaakko Hintikka
Springer Science & Business Media, Oct 31, 1977 - History - 427 pages
The Fifth International Congress of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science was held at the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada, 27 August to 2 September 1975. The Congress was held under the auspices of the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science, Division of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science, and was sponsored by the National Research Council of Canada and the University of Western Ontario. As those associated closely with the work of the Division over the years know weIl, the work undertaken by its members varies greatly and spans a number of fields not always obviously related. In addition, the volume of work done by first rate scholars and scientists in the various fields of the Division has risen enormously. For these and related reasons it seemed to the editors chosen by the Divisional officers that the usual format of publishing the proceedings of the Congress be abandoned in favour of a somewhat more flexible, and hopefully acceptable, method of pre sentation. Accordingly, the work of the invited participants to the Congress has been divided into four volumes appearing in the University of Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science. The volumes are entitled, Logic, Foundations of Mathematics and Computability Theory, Foun dational Problems in the Special Sciences, Basic Problems in Methodol ogy and Linguistics, and Historical and Philosophical Dimensions of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science.
 

Contents

GENESIS AND OBSERVERSHIP
3
THE METHODOLOGY OF PHYSICS AND TOPOLOGY
35
AXIOMATICS AND THE SEARCH FOR THE FOUNDATIONS OF PHYSICS
47
THE INTERPRETATION OF QUANTUM MECHANICS
67
WHAT IS PHILOSOPHICALLY INTERESTING ABOUT QUANTUM MECHANICS?
69
COMPLETENESS AND REALISM IN QUANTUM MECHANICS
81
FOUNDATIONS OF BIOLOGY
89
THE ONTOLOGICAL STATUS OF SPECIES AS EVOLUTIONARY UNITS
91
CONDITIONING AS THE PERCEPTION OF CAUSAL RELATIONS
241
LEARNABLE FUNCTIONS
251
FOUNDATIONS OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
257
THE METHODOLOGY OF SOCIAL KNOWLEDGE AND THE PROBLEM OF THE INTEGRATION OF THE SCIENCES
259
JUSTICE AND SOCIAL CHANGE
269
WELFARE INEQUALITIES AND RAWLSIAN AXIOMATICS
271
A REJOINDER TO PROFESSOR SEN
293
A REPLY TO PROFESSOR HARSANYI
297

THEORIES AND OBSERVATIONS OF DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
103
ORGANIC DETERMINISM AND TELEOLOGY IN BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH
119
EXPLICIT AND IMPLICIT SEMANTIC CONTENT OF THE GENETIC INFORMATION
131
FOUNDATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGY
151
CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE BRAIN
153
CAUSALITY AND ACTION
167
METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF ANALYSIS OF ACTIVITY
205
THE STATUS OF LEARNING THEORIES
215
A SURVEY OF CONTEMPORARY LEARNING THEORIES
217
THE MEASUREMENT OF SOCIAL INEQUALITY
303
RATIONALITY IN SOCIAL SCIENCES
313
ADVANCES IN UNDERSTANDING RATIONAL BEHAVIOR
315
A NONBAYESIAN APPROACH
345
COMMENTS ON PROFESSOR WATKINSS PAPER
381
THE DUAL FUNCTION OF RATIONALITY
393
INDEX OF NAMES
423
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