The Limits Of Science
eBook - PDF

The Limits Of Science

Revised Edition

  1. English
  2. PDF
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

The Limits Of Science

Revised Edition

About this book

Perfected science is but an idealization that provides a useful contrast to highlight the limited character of what we do and can attain. This lies at the core of various debates in the philosophy of science and Rescher's discussion focuses on the question: how far could science go in principle—what are the theoretical limits on science? He concentrates on what science can discover, not what it should discover. He explores in detail the existence of limits or limitations on scientific inquiry, especially those that, in principle, preclude the full realization of the aims of science, as opposed to those that relate to economic obstacles to scientific progress. Rescher also places his argument within the politics of the day, where "strident calls of ideological extremes surround us," ranging from the exaggeration that "science can do anything"—to the antiscientism that views science as a costly diversion we would be well advised to abandon. Rescher offers a middle path between these two extremes and provides an appreciation of the actual powers and limitations of science, not only to philosophers of science but also to a larger, less specialized audience.

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Yes, you can access The Limits Of Science by Nicholas Rescher in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Biological Sciences & Philosophy & Ethics in Science. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Contents
  2. Preface
  3. Introduction
  4. 1. Question Dynamics and Problems of Scientific Completeness
  5. 2. Questions and Scientific Progress
  6. 3. The Instability of Science
  7. 4. Complexity Escalation as an Obstacle to Completing Science
  8. 5. Against Convergentism
  9. 6. Question Dynamics and Problems of Scientific Completeness
  10. 7. The Unpredictability of Future Science
  11. 8. Against lnsolubilia
  12. 9. The Price of an Ultimate Theory
  13. 10. The Theoretical Unrealizability of Perfected Science
  14. 11. The Practical Infeasibility of Perfecting Science
  15. 12. Can Computers Overcome Our Limitations?
  16. 13. Extraterrestrial Science (Could Aliens Overcome Our Limitations?)
  17. 14. The Limits of Quantification in Human Affairs
  18. 15. The Limited Province of Natural Science
  19. Notes
  20. Index