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Very Short Introductions #067

Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction

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How much faith should we place in what scientists tell us? Is it possible for scientific knowledge to be fully 'objective'? What, really, can be defined as science? In the second edition of this Very Short Introduction, Samir Okasha explores the main themes and theories of contemporary philosophy of science, and investigates fascinating, challenging questions such as these.Starting at the very beginning, with a concise overview of the history of science, Okasha examines the nature of fundamental practices such as reasoning, causation, and explanation. Looking at scientific revolutions and the issue of scientific change, he asks whether there is a discernible pattern to the way scientific ideas change over time, and discusses realist versus anti-realist attitudes towards science. He finishes by considering science today, and the social and ethical philosophicalquestions surrounding modern science.ABOUT THE 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.

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2002

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About the author

Samir Okasha

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Biography

I received my doctorate in 1998 from the University of Oxford, where I worked with Bill Newton-Smith. I then held a post-doctoral position at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), before moving to the London School of Economics as a Jacobsen Fellow. I was a Lecturer at the University of York from 2000-2002, and in 2003 moved to the University of Bristol. I was promoted to a personal chair in 2006.

I have held a visiting position at the Australian National University.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 356 reviews
Profile Image for Ahmad Sharabiani.
9,563 reviews748 followers
November 17, 2021
Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions #67), Samir Okasha

How much faith should we place in what scientists tell us?

Is it possible for scientific knowledge to be fully 'objective'?

What, really, can be defined as science?

In the second edition of this Very Short Introduction, Samir Okasha explores the main themes and theories of contemporary philosophy of science.

عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: «درآمدی بر فلسفه علم»؛ «فلسفه علم - مقدمه ای بسیار کوتاه»؛ نویسنده: سمیر آکاشا؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: ماه آگوست سال2009میلادی

عنوان: درآمدی بر فلسفه علم؛ تالیف: سمیر آکاشا؛ مترجم: ابوالفضل حقیری قزوینی؛ تهران، امیرکبیر، سال1388، در209ص، مصور، جدول، نمودار، شابک9789643031701؛ چاپ سوم سال1392؛ موضوع: علوم - فلسفه از نویسندگان بریتانیا - سده21 م

عنوان: فلسفه علم؛ تالیف: سمیر آکاشا؛ مترجم: هومن پناهنده؛ تهران، فرهنگ معاصر، سال1387، در212ص، نمایه، شابک9789648637755؛ چاپ دوم سال1388؛ چاپ دیگر تهران، فرهنگ معاصر، سال1393؛

علم چیست؟ آیا میان علم و اسطوره تفاوت واقعی وجود دارد؟ آیا علم میتواند همه چیز را تبیین کند؟ این مقدمه بسیار کوتاه؛ موضوعات عمده؛ در فلسفه علم معاصر را؛ به اختصار بررسی میکند؛ کتاب با تاریخچه ای از علم؛ صحنه را میآراید، و سپس به بررسی ماهیت «استدلال علمی»؛ تبیین علمی انقلابهایی که در قلمروها روی داده، و نظریه هایی همانند «واقع گرایی» میپردازد

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 06/10/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 25/08/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
Profile Image for Amir Tesla.
162 reviews760 followers
October 8, 2020
به نظرم همه اون‌های� که کتاب‌ها� غیرادبی و علمی می‌خون� بهتره در مورد فلسفه علم هم مطالعه کنن.

کتاب خیلی ساده و فاخری.
Profile Image for Shakiba Abedzadeh.
38 reviews85 followers
June 6, 2019
محاکمه‌� گالیگه و محکومیتش به حبس خانگی شاید مهمترین و معروف‌تری� داستان تاریخِ علم باشد. رومانتیک‌تری�. اساس تاریخ همین است شاید، هر چه در زمانِ دورتری رخ داده باشد، بیشتر داستانی رمانتیک است تا واقعیتی عریان و هراسناک.
اما این چه‌طور�
در 1920 معلمی در آمریکا به جرم تدریس نظریه‌� تکامل داروین محاکمه و مجرم شناخته می‌شو�. و عملا تا 1967 نظریه‌� تکامل در هیچ کلاسِ علومی تدریس نمی‌شد� است.
به جای آن چه تدریس می‌شده� نظریه‌� خلقت (همان سفر پیدایش) نه در کلاس الاهیات که در کلاس علوم.
این یکی داستان یا تاریخ واقعا رمانتیک نیست.
آیا ما در حال حاضر در وضع بهتری هستیم؟
پاسخ من : خیر
بیش از یک قرن از کشفِ کشفِ مندل( 14 سال پس از مرگش در واقع) می‌گذر�. علم ِ ژنتیک تصاعدی رشد و گسترش یافته. انواع لقاح مصنوعی، کشتِ تخمکِ بارور شده در رحم، شبیه سازی و هزاران بیماریِ ژنتیکی و درمانِ آن‌ه� در دنیای امروز به زندگیِ ما راه پیدا کرده‌ان� اما هم‌چنا� زنانِ زیادی در جهان به دلیل دخترزایی، یا زاییدنِ کودکِ بیمار در معرض تحقیر و توهین و اتهام‌ان�.
پس
علم اساسا به چه دردی می‌خورد�
ساخت بمبِ اتم؟ تقلیل دادن علوم انسانی به آمار؟ سودآوری شرکت های دارویی؟
علم سخت‌تری� درگیریِ بشر است. باید استدلال کرد. باید فکر کرد. نمی‌شو� با کلمات ساده و سطحیِ "خیلی خوب بود" و "دوست نداشتم" سر ته آن را به هم دوخت. نمی‌شو� شک نکرد. شاید به همین دلیل علم با همه‌� قطعیت و وضوحش انتخاب بسیاری از مردم نیست. در ایران که انتخاب هم اگر باشد برای کسبِ چیز دیگری‌س�. مدرک، کار، پول... کسی بر اساس علم زندگی‌ا� را تغییر نمی‌ده�. کسی بر اساس علم اعتقاداتش را تغییر نمی‌ده�. هیچ‌ک� با رویکردِ علمی به خودش و زندگی‌‌اش� به دیگری و زندگی‌ا� نمی‌اندیش�. علم اگر کشف واقعیت باشد، شروع لذتِ ماست از آنچه واقعی نیست. از هنر، ادبیات، موسیقی... اما....

اصلا علم دقیقا چیست؟

Profile Image for Bekhradaa.
142 reviews63 followers
April 9, 2019
۲۲
به نظر برخی فیلسوفان دلیل منطقی محض وجود دارد که نشان می دهد چرا علم هرگز نخواهد توانست همه چیز را تبیین کند، چون برای تبیین یک چیز، که فرق هم نمی کند چه چیز باشد، باید چیز دیگری را در میان آورد. اما مساله این است که آن چیز دوم را چه چیز تبیین می کند؟

۱۸
اطلاعاتی که برای پیش بینی یک واقعیت پیش از آگاهی ما به آن واقعیت به کار می آید، برای تبیین همان واقعیت پس از آگاهی ما به آن واقعیت به کار نمی آید

۱۴
یک تعبیر از جمله "احتمال وجود حیات در سیاره مریخ 1 به 1000 است" این است که گوینده این سخن صرفا دارد از آنچه در ذهن خودش می گذرد خبر میدهد... این تعبیر ذهنی از احتمال است. در این تعبیر، احتمال معادل است با مقدار اطمینانی که به نظر خود داریم

۱۳
نباید از آدمز و لووریه ایراد بگیریم که کارشان غیرعلمی است چون بالاخره کار آن دو به کشف یک سیاره جدید انجامید. ولی آنها درست همان کاری را کردند که پوپر بخاطرش مارکسیست‌ه� را سرزنش می‌کن�. آن دو کارشان را با یک نظریه یعنی نظریه گرایش نیوتون آغاز کردند. اما پیش بینی برآمده از این نظریه درباره مدار اورانوس اشتباه از آب درآمد. ولی آنها بجای آنکه نتیجه بگیرند نظریه نیوتون نادرست است پای آن ایستادند و کوشیدند با فرض وجود یک سیاره جدید رصدهای ناقض نظریه نیوتون را توجیه کنند. به همین قیاس، وقتی هیچ نشانه ای دیده نشد که سرمایه داری جای خود را به کمونیسم میدهد، مارکسیست ها از این وضع نتیجه نگرفتند که نظریه مارکس لزوما نادرست است. آنها هم پای این نظریه ایستادند و کوشیدند به نحوی از انحا مشاهدات ناقض نظریه مارکس را توجیه کنند. وقتی ما کار آدمز و لووریه را عین علم و حتی شایان پیروی میدانیم، دیگر بی انصافی است که کار مارکسیست ها را در مقوله شبه علم قرار دهیم
Profile Image for Shafaat.
93 reviews113 followers
December 23, 2015
I have a bad habit. I tend to be too lenient when it comes to rating books, I’m sort of easily molded by new ideas. I’m trying to amend this. So I’ll not be rating this a 5 star.
The term ‘Philosophy of science� might be a bit puzzling. After all, scientists don’t bother much about philosophy and undergrads of science doesn’t have to take a course in philosophy to do well science. However, there ARE some assumptions and attitudes implicit in scientific activities which scientists don’t talk much explicitly, and which falls within the realm of philosophy rather than science. For example, every objects we examined so far obey the Newton’s laws of motion. Does this rule out the possibility of existence of objects which are not subject to Newton’s laws of motion? Just because we haven’t found out one, does it mean it doesn’t exist? After all, we only investigated a tiny part of the physical world.
This book addressed some question which I’ve wondered for several years, and many more ideas of which I didn’t have any clue. Is there any objective existence of the physical world independent of our mind(this I always pondered)? Does causality exist, or is it a fiction of our mind? Is there anything beyond the reach of scientific domain(The ‘subjectivity� of our consciousness still seems to be fit in this model, but who can guarantee it will continue to remain so ?) It talked about realsim-anti realism and other sort of attitudes towards our observation. If we can’t directly ‘see� and electron, can we legitimately talk about an electron as real entities? Or do we just invent the idea of electron to make sense of our experimental data?
I’m particularly impressed by the ideas of Thomas Kuhn’s ‘The structure of scientific revolutions�, published in 1963. It’s arguably the most influential book in the philosophy of science, which draws its premises from analyzing the history of science. Khun regarded science as rather a ‘social-activity� practiced by scientists within the framework of a ‘paradigm�, which includes a traditional set of assumptions and methods of enquiry and a overall ‘culture� regarding how science should be done. This paradigm are overthrown in times of ‘scientific revolutions�, and a new paradigm is adapted. Khun questioned whether experimental scientific data is ‘objective� at all, or they are ‘theory-laden�? Kuhn generated quite a stir, which continues to this time. I can’t talk enough of Kuhn, there’s too much to talk.
All in all, it’s a good book. But sometimes the author tried to over-explain a rather obvious idea, which could be a bit bothering. So I’m cutting one star for talking too much.


Profile Image for Mohammad Mirzaali.
503 reviews109 followers
January 20, 2014
اغلبِ عوام -که این "عوام" می‌توان� شامل دانشمندانِ حرفه‌ا� هم بشود- جوری از «علم» صحبت می‌کنن� که انگار دارند از قطعی‌تری� حقیقتِ عینی در دنیا سخن می‌گویند� انگار-نه-انگار که همین علم در بهترین حالت‌ا� مبتنی بر مقدّماتی فلسفی ست که بی آن‌ه� جز مُشتی کاردستی و نظریّه‌ها� بی‌مبن� نخواهد بود. در این کتاب «سمیر اُکاشا» با بی‌طرفی� در خور توجّه‌ا� مهم‌ترین� این مقدّماتِ فلسفی را به بحث می‌کش�. این مباحث از تعریف علم، استنتاج و تبیین در علم، تا مبحث تحوّل و نقد آن را در بر می‌گیر�. درخشان‌تری� فصل کتاب را به واقع باید فصل «تحوّل علمی و انقلاب علمی» دانست که به نقل آراءِ شگفت‌انگی� تامس کوون در باب انقلاب‌ها� علمی اختصاص دارد؛ آرائی که نقد سهمناکی بر پوزیتیویزمِ خام‌اندیشانه‌� «علم‌باوران� محسوب می‌شو� که کمر-راست‌کرد� از آنْ سال‌ه� ست که تقریباً ناممکن است

- ترجمه‌� کتاب هم از دقیق‌تری� ترجمه‌های� بود که تا به حال خوانده بودم
Profile Image for Mohammad reza khorasanizadeh.
767 reviews65 followers
June 28, 2020
کتابی مختصر و مفید که به کلیاتی در باب علم می‌پرداز�. از تاریخ و سیر علوم مختلف تا انواع دیدگاه ها و تفاوت ها و بحثای گوناگون بین اندیشمندان در باب نظریات و دیدگاه های بنیادین علمی.
کتاب خوب و مفیدی است و برای پیدا کردن یک دید کلی در مورد فلسفه علم، خواندش را توصیه می‌کن�
Profile Image for طارق حميدة.
368 reviews90 followers
April 28, 2020
كما يقول الباحث احمد فتحي الباب :

العلم التجريبي هو العملية المنظمة الت�� تجمع المعلومات حول العالم وتكثِّفُها في صورة قوانين ومبادئ قابلة للاختبار.

وأن المنهج العلمي يقوم على افتراض فرضية معينة، والتعبير عنها بقوانين دقيقة تبين ما يترتب على صحتها من أمور، ثم وضعها حيز الاختبار لبيان ما إن كانت هذه النظرية ستفسر المشاهدات السابقة وتتنبأ بالمشاهدات اللاحقة.

فإن حصل فيتم الاعتماد على هذه النظرية حتى تزداد المشاهدات وتتطور فنصل لنظرية أفضل تعبيرا عن الواقع.

------
و هذا تعريف العلم
اما فلسفة العلم

كما يعلق الباحث د.خالد صقر

تتعلق بطرق الإستدلال وأدوات النقد الخاصة بالعلوم التجريبية

و

تسعي فلسفة العلوم إلي الإجابة علي أربعة أسئلة كبري ينتظر العالم أن تشكل إجاباتها الأنموذجية إطاراً معرفياً حاسماً لكل ما يتعلق بالعلم كنشاط إنساني ، هذه الأسئلة هي:
1- ما هو هدف العلم ؟
2- ماهي الحدود المنطقية والفلسفية للافتراضات العلمية الصحيحة ؟
3- ماهي الحدود الفاصلة بين الحقائق والنظريات والفرضيات العلمية ؟
4- ماهو منهج البحث العلمي المثالي ؟

و فائدة هذا كله :

"الاهتمام بفلسفة العلوم هو خطوة أولى في طريق إحياء الحضارة الإسلامية و تجديد أصولها المعرفية المتكاملة ، و سبيل لصناعة تصورات صحيحة و مستدامة عن الواقع المعاصر و بناء وعي يصلح لمواجهة التحديات العلمية و الاقتصادية و الثقافية التي تواجه المجتمعات العربية"

...
بعد القراءة الثانية الكتاب جدا رائع كمقدمة

الفرق بين القراءة الاولى والثانية اربع اعوام وطبقة اعمق من الفهم والنقد
سبحانك ربي كيف الواحد بتغير فهمه وتحليله للأمور
لك الحمد يا من علمتني
Profile Image for Mohamed al-Jamri.
178 reviews144 followers
April 22, 2018
I gave it five stars when I first read it three years ago. Now I'm giving it two only. This shows how much one can change.
Profile Image for Amirography.
198 reviews124 followers
December 18, 2017
A deserving 5!
I found this book, excellent. The author was well informed on the subject, knew the most controversial aspects and managed to put the most important ones in the book. also Pr. Okasha used different arguments in different fields of science in order to explain different facets of this amazing field. While the book was short, it was accurate, convincing, page-turner, enjoyable.
If I want to criticize this work, I would say that the post-script could have been more comprehensive, and an all-rounder.
Profile Image for Mahin.
46 reviews50 followers
December 20, 2020
The other day I was conversing with one of my roommates. After hearing that I am an agnostic, he asked me the reason behind that stand. Then he started telling me how scientific the Qur'an is. He lamented, "I am sorry that you don't see that Qur'an is the most scientific book of all time." As I was already familiar with this kind of situation, I somehow tried to veer the conversation in a different direction because I know this debate will go nowhere. When someone says Qur'an, Gita, Bible, or any other this kind of religious book is scientific, you know there is no point in arguing with him/her, as you can say he/she doesn't possess a sound amount of knowledge on how science works.

This is just a random example that depicts a somewhat sad aspect of our science education. Even someone who has a formal science education doesn't know a lot of things about the structure and the coherence of the methods scientists use to verify natural truths.

Now you can ask why there exists such a thing called 'Philosophy of Science'? And what is the job of these Philosophers? Isn't science itself enough to assess its validity? Some scientists even claim that the branch of knowledge named philosophy is dead. This kind of attitude stems from the fact that science can now answer a lot of questions, that were considered as questions of philosophical investigation in the past. So, it is not so unreasonable to believe that there will be a time when science will be able to answer all the questions about our cosmos and there will be nothing left for philosophy.

This book is a very good starting point if you want to explore this kind of questions and possibilities. The author first started with a chapter on the nature of Science. He elucidated what are the traits that a branch of Science should possess. Then there is a chapter on Scientific Inference. This is a really interesting chapter where you will confront Hume's problem of induction. Hume's Problem is quite unsettling for us as it shows a subtle gap in the method of inductive inference. The inherent premise of inductive inference is that our universe is symmetric and harmonious. But there is no reason to believe this assumption. In almost all cases, scientists use inductive inference to construct their theories. Does this mean that scientific theories are not as much trustable as we used to think? When scientists find some data from an experiment, they try to construct theory to explain this data as effectively as possible. But what if there are two opposing theories that explain the same data equally effectively. How should we choose from those two theories? In most cases, scientists prefer simple theory over the comparatively complex one. But is there any reason to believe that nature behaves in the simplest way possible?

Another fascinating thing I learned from this book is the relation between causality and correlation. For instance: when a mug falls on the floor from a table, it breaks. Is hitting the floor the reason it broke? Or it hit the floor because it broke? Or there is another phenomenon that is the cause of both incidents? Then there is a chapter on the debate between Scientific Realism and Anti-realism. A very interesting chapter indeed.

'Scientific change and scientific revolutions' is a chapter solely based on Thomas Kuhn's wacky ideas. Some of Kuhn's ideas seemed plain silly to me. But I think I should read his book before delivering any opinion. The chapter on Philosophical problems in some specific sciences was my least favorite as it seemed to me that the discussed problems are not philosophical at all. I had a sense that when these fields will be advanced enough, they will be able to answer these questions without any support from philosophy.

The author's writing style is lucid and amiable. The best thing about the writing is that he was not biased at the time of presenting different opposing doctrines(At least I wasn't able to sense any bias). He presented all those things with equal importance and played the role of just a narrator. That is why the book was somewhat enjoyable to read.

The book is very small in length(as you can get from the title). So, this is not an academic textbook. You will find everything in a very superficial way. But this is the sole purpose of these very short introduction series books. They will inflame a craving inside you to know more so that you can dive into some more sophisticated texts.

Recommended for someone who wants a very elementary introduction on the subject.
Profile Image for Ali.n.
162 reviews4 followers
December 11, 2020
کتابی مختصر و مفید که به زبان ساده‌ا� مسائل مطرح در فلسفه علم را توضیح داده است. برای آشنایی کلی با این حوزه از فلسفه قطعا موثر است. ترجمه هم بسیار روان و قابل فهم بود.
Profile Image for Atlas.
812 reviews39 followers
Read
April 29, 2018
*mini review*

I've left this book unrated because I find it rather hard to rate non-fiction. This book is well-written and I imagine it would be very easy for someone with very little knowledge of philosophy to understand most of it - because of this, I found it a little basic and underwhelming. The book briefly covers a few key debates in the philosophy of science and I admire the author's ability to whittle down these lengthy and complex arguments to a couple of pages. As an overview for a non-philosopher, this book was good.

Read my reviews on my blog:
Profile Image for Yousif Al Zeera.
267 reviews91 followers
May 9, 2018
The book was overall good (and sometimes great!). All chapters made sense to me and relate to the subject. Chapter #6 (philosophical problems relate to physics, biology and psychology) was an outlier for me and I felt most of it wasn’t necessary as it went into deep discussions around Newton and Leibniz and their theories on space and motion.

Nonetheless, the book gave a good introduction into the subject which, most importantly, let you feel more interested into the subject after going through this introduction.
Profile Image for Maryam Samiei.
225 reviews82 followers
February 3, 2018
کتاب فلسفه ی علم مروری می کنه بر چند مسئله اصلی در حوزه ی فلسفه ی علم که هنوز هم جنجال برانگیزه.
استدلال قیاسی و استقرایی و نقد هیوم، قانون تبیین همپل، انقلاب های علمی کوهن که خیلی خیلی جذاب بود، بحث ابطال پذیری علم پوپر، و یه عالمه بحث های دیگه که واقعا چالش برانگیز بودن.

.من خوندن این کتاب رو به همه ی علم دوستان توصیه می کنم
خصوصا اگر نسبت به مسائل چالشی مثل من هیجان زده میشن
:)
Profile Image for Mohammad Mollanoori.
244 reviews
May 14, 2023
کتابی که باید خواند تا نسبت به آنچه در مقطع ارشد (علی‌الخصو� رشته‌ها� غیرمهندسی) با آن درگیر می‌شویم� آگاه باشیم
Profile Image for Mohammed Yusuf.
336 reviews175 followers
December 23, 2018
مختصر ممتاز ، يبين النقاط الأساسية للمبتدئين مثلي في فلسفة العلوم
Profile Image for Darwin8u.
1,765 reviews8,940 followers
October 29, 2024
VSI#67
Not too bad. I guess that's a hard way to start a review. I liked it, It did its job. I can handle reading something I'm familiar with if it delivers it in a fresh way. I wanted the grooves to go deeper. I felt he hit all the targets, just didn't shake me with any of them. It isn't just that it is a subject I'm familiar with because I've like other VSIs that delivered no real new information, but the way they told the story was worth the time and money. I also just don't know if THIS book would have hooked me if I didn't know the subject.
Profile Image for مسا.
246 reviews21 followers
December 26, 2017
باید خیلی زودتر از اینها می‌خوندم�. کامل و بی‌نق� و البته اصلا کافی نیست؛ اما خوندنش می‌تونس� لااقل زودتر حواسم رو به این موضوع جذاب و درخور توجه معطوف کنه.

به نظرم فصل پنج، شش و هفت‌� علاوه بر جذاب بودن، دقیق‌ت� هم بودن...بیشتر دوستشون داشتم.
توی فصل فصل چهارم(در مورد رئالیسم و ضد رئالیسم علمی)، حمله‌� نویسنده به فلسفه‌� پوپر،غرض‌ورزان� و اصلا بی‌مور� به نظرم اومد.
جدال خلقت‌باورا� و داروینیست‌ه� توی نظا�� آموزشی آمریکا خیلی جذاب شروع شد ولی افتضاح سرهم‌بندی‌� کرد.

*از پیشنهادکردنش به زیرِ پانزده‌ساله‌ه� نهراسید. بهترین زمان برای جلوگیری از {صرفا} علم‌باو� شدن همون موقع‌س�.
Profile Image for Nika Mansouri Ghiasi.
19 reviews14 followers
January 15, 2013
It was a greaaaat book-suggested to me by a really good friend-It made me think about the aspects of science i hadn't thought of before-to be honest with you a book teaching you how to talk more 'gholonbe solonbe' to others!;)
Profile Image for Younes .
26 reviews4 followers
June 12, 2020
erall, I think this is a great introduction. It serves as just what it proclaims, "a very short introduction".

This book equips you with basic tools to understand better the world of ideas and reality because after all, everything we think about is based on a basic assumption about the world, be it scientific or not. I am not well versed in the field to evaluate the accuracy of the content, but what I loved the most about is how Okasha seems very objective in the presentations of the concepts. You read the stance of one school, followed by its critic, then followed by the counter-critic. This is amazing! It helps you learn about something from its various angles and leaves you at the end with the satisfying choice to adhere to what you think is more convincing, or reject everything all together.

Here is a very short summary of the ideas in the book to get a glance

Chapter 1 deals with basic definitions of what science and philosohy of science are. Science is destenguished by a unique method; experiments. Philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy that questions the methods of science and the epistimological implications that science presents. Then it distenguishes between science and pseudo-science with respect to Karl Poper's approach.

Chapter 2 discusses deduction and induction respectively. It is followed by discussing Hume's problem of induction. It states that induction is never going to be rational and thus is problematic when it is used in science. This seems challenging at first sight, yet this does not mean it can never be relied on and Okasha argued that this shouldn't matter since it actually works . Then comes up a discussion on Inference by Best Explanation, which is a from of induction that deals with infering a fact from proofs left after a phenomenon has happened, just as it occured with Darwin when he laid out his theory of evolution.

Chapter 3 explains what an explanation in scienceis. To explain something in science can have two aims: 1-To try and act out against the problem. 2-To satisfy our intellectual curiosity. The author also introduced Humpel's model of explanation and its criticism, as well as the problem of causation/correlation in analyzing data.

I found Chapter 4 about "Realism and anti-realism" the most interesting because it talks about a fundemental issue in science, and something that I always observe when I discuss science with other people. Can science study both observable and unobeservable things? The realists agree while the anti-realists oppose with their arguments which, to be honest, are not easy to rebut. But I stand as realist.

Chapter 5 is about scientific revolutions and scientific change. It discusess the importance of the history of science in scientific revolutions, Incommensurability of paradigms, and theory-ladneess of data.

Chapter 6 deals with problems in specific fields of science: Lebinz and Newton's debate on absolute space, taxonomy in biology, and the modular mind in cognitive psychology.

The last chapter is light and more superficial than the rest. It is about scienticism, the clash between religion and science on evolution, and the absence of value judgment in science.

As I mentioned, it was a great introduction. I feel very different as I have access to important scientific concepts than I did before. If you are a non-expert and want basic knowledge to understand how science works, this would be a good book for you. I don't know any other but I think you can trust this one since the author is very credible. Check Samir Okasha.
Profile Image for C.
173 reviews192 followers
July 16, 2013
This is the ideal introduction for someone with little to no background regarding the philosophy of science. It is probably too simple for anyone with a bachelors degree in philosophy. Ergo, if you're a science student, who hasn't taken a philosophy course, you may like this book.

The book first sets out to show what are the primary philosophical issues regarding science. For instance, what is it that connects biology, physics, and chemistry, but not biblical studies, and witch craft. Is it method? That seems dubious, since advances are often made in the biology, physics, and chemistry, through various methods. The author then focuses on the famous philosopher of science Karl Popper, and his theory of falsification. Popper thought what made a theory scientific was its ability to be falsified. We cannot falsify whether or not God exists outside space and time, therefore it isn't a scientific claim, like the boiling point of water. Of course Popper's theory has its own problems which Okasha points out.

The next chapter deals with the difference between deduction, induction, inference to the best explanation, and Hume's critique of science and induction.

The following chapter grapples with the debate between materialism, idealism, realism, and anti-realism. Realist believe that there is an independent world, that exists and behaves as science says, regardless of whether or not humans are around to perceive it. E.g., if a tree falls in the woods, and no one is around to hear it, it still makes a sound. Anti-realist believe that science is more instrumentally fruitful, but that there are large parts of the cosmos, or our perceptual tools which are incapable of getting how the universe really is.

Finally the book ends talking about particular problems in the sciences, and critiques of Scientism (the belief that science can answer and/or address all questions).
Profile Image for Sadaf Salehi.
130 reviews38 followers
March 27, 2023
کتابی مختصر، مفید، بدیع و بیطرف که خوندنش بسیار متفاوت و لذت‌بخ� بود برام و کلی سوالات پیچیده تو ذهنم ایجاد کرد:


حدود مشترکی که چیزی رو علم/ شبه علم میکنن چیان؟
انتظارات ما ار علم و روش علمی چقدر باید باشه واقعا؟ دستیابی به حقیقت جهان یا کارآمدتر کردن ابزارهامون برای بهره‌بردار� ازش؟علم و روش علمی چقدر ذاتا از جامعه و دانشمند تاثیر میپذیره و چقدر میشه به عنوان موجودیتی بیطرف که منتظر کشف شدنه بهش نگاه کرد؟ این گزاره که پیشرفت‌ها� علمی ذاتا بیطرف هستند و این استفاده‌ها� خوب یا بد ماست که بهشون جهت میده تو جهانی که بخش عمده‌ا� از پیشرفتهای علمی‌� داره تو کشورهای سرمایه‌دار� و با پشتوانه منابع خصوصی انجام میشه چقدر قابل استناده؟ نسبت علم و دین در جاهایی که ظاهرا علم چیز متناقضی از خوانش اولیه ما با تعلیمات دینی ارائه میکنه مثل داروینیسم رو چطور باید تنظیم کرد؟ آیا مسیر پیشرفتهای علمی یه مسیر خطی و همواره مثبت به سمت کشف حقیقت غایی جهان هست همیشه؟ علم تا کجا میتونه مستقلا تبیینی از جهان ارائه بده و تا کجا وابسته به قوانین مورد قبول پیش فرض هست؟ معیار درستی یا نادرستی بین چند فرضیه که قادر به تبیین پدیده‌ا� هستن چیه و اگر میگیم ساده‌تری� فرضیه که جنبه‌ها� مختلف واقعیت رو بتونه توجیه کنه با صرفه جویی هرچه بیشتر، از کجا معلوم که جهان ما اساسا جهان ساده و تک عاملی باشه و نه جهان پیچیده و چندعاملی؟ و در نهایت هم تیر خلاص با مسئله هیوم که کلا این علامت سوال رو میذاره کنار استقرا که بن‌مای� تمام روش‌علم� ه که این اطمینان به اینکه قوانینی که تا به حال کار میکردن، با چه مدرکی لزوما ازین ببعد هم همیشه کار میکنن و چه دلیل مستندی هست برای اینکه میل ما به یکنواختی طبیعت لزوما یک میل درست و متکامل هست و نه صرفا یه مغالطه ذهنی برای ساده‌ساز� دنیای پیچیده و کشف نشده برای انسان نخستین بی‌دفاع�

«فلسفه علم» رو با یه ترجمه متفاوت و با این لینک از طاقچه دریافت کنید

Profile Image for Steve.
79 reviews26 followers
January 5, 2011
A book of this size will never do justice to such an extensive subject as the philosophy of science - but what this covers, it does so extremely well, thanks largely to the author's clear writing and to a good choice of subjects.

The fundamentals of induction, explanation, realism and scientific change are all explained intelligibly, arguments are presented with corresponding counterarguments, and where necessary, topics are introduced with the right amount of background information - for example, the debate between scientific realism and anti-realism begins with a summary of the older, more metaphysical debate between realism and idealism; the chapter on scientific reasoning begins with an exploration of the difference between inductive and deductive reasoning, and so on.

A chapter on scientific change and the nature of scientific revolutions is particularly enjoyable, introducing the logical positivists and Kuhn's view of science. Another chapter explores some of the more notorious philosophical problems within science, such as the concept of absolute space and the dilemma of biological classification. The final chapter is devoted to a much-needed discussion of the various criticisms often aimed at science, including that old chestnut, scientism.

Overall I found this to be an introduction worthy of the name - it was informative, challenging and kept my interest throughout. Suitable for anyone interested in philosophy or indeed any branch of science.
Profile Image for Mohammad.
23 reviews1 follower
July 25, 2018
نگاهی به علم از دریچه‌� فلسفه و گذر از این صافیِ دشوار
کتاب از شروع علم میگه. از تاریخچه‌ش� اینکه چطور بهش اعتماد شد و میاد تا انقلاب‌ها� علمی. و در نهایت میخواد به این برسه که "آیا علم حقیقت بی‌چون‌وچراست� میشه به عنوان حقیقت پذیرفتش و به اون ایمان آورد؟" جوابی که نویسنده میده قطعا "نه" هست. با بررسی سرگذشت علم و موضوعاتی که هنوز مورد بحث هستن و احتمالا خواهند ماند. اینکه چطور علم بارها به چالش کشیده شده و از برخی مسائل حل‌نشدن� به کمک احتمال عبور کرده.
نویسنده بیان میکنه که البته همه‌� این مسائل مانع اعتماد ما به علم نمیشه؛ در عین حال نباید به عنوان تمامِ حقیقت و محضِ مطلق پذیرفته بشه.

برای من جالب‌تری� فصل کتاب آخرینش بود که رویکردی اخلاقی و ارزشی نسبت به علم داره.
نویسنده سعی کرده جنبه‌ها� مختلف موضوعات مطرح شده را مورد بررسی قرار بده و تا جایی که میتونه بی‌طر� باشه.
از ترجمه کتاب هم که دو موضوع سخت را شامل می‌ش� (علم و فلسفه)، نباید غافل بود که خیلی روان از کار در اومده.

پ.ن.: تا قبل از این فکر می‌کرد� دانشمندان خیلی چشم دیدن فلاسفه رو ندارن و خودشون رو در حال حاضر بدون رقیب می‌دونن� ولی گویا فلاسفه هم از اینکه اونا اخیرا جایگاهشون رو متزلزل کردن نمیخوان چشمشون به ریخت اونا وا شه!
Profile Image for Error Theorist.
66 reviews67 followers
July 17, 2012
This is a fantastic introduction to the philosophy of science. It is very brief and covers a broad range of topics (some rather superficially). So, this is definitely not a thorough introduction, but a very well written primer. This book will acquaint you with the core concepts and debates within the philosophy of science, and whet your appetite for further reading (the author provides a nice list for further reading broken down chapter by chapter). If you're already familiar with the philosophy of science, this may be a highly redundant read. This is a book purely for those wanting to get familiar with the field.
Profile Image for Benedict Vitai.
117 reviews31 followers
January 30, 2022
Does what it says on the tin. Great introduction to philosophy of science, from Hume and Locke through Popper and right the way up to Kuhn. It’s a real shame that there’s no philosophy of science in the UK science curriculum - not even on most university physics courses.
Profile Image for Mehdi Nabavi.
59 reviews19 followers
November 4, 2017
برای یک ذهن ناآشنا به فلسفه علم مثل من، کتاب خوبی بود، نسبتن میشه گفت که نویسنده جانب بی طرفی رو هم خوب نگه داشته بود، از وقتی که گذاشتم راضیم
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