Analysis And Interpretation In The Exact Sciences

The essays in this volume concern the points of intersection between analytic philosophy and the philosophy of the exact sciences. More precisely, it concern connections between knowledge in mathematics and the exact sciences, on the one hand, and the conceptual foundations of knowledge in general. Its guiding idea is that, in contemporary philosophy of science, there are profound problems of theoretical interpretation-- problems that transcend both the methodological concerns of general philosophy of science, and the technical concerns of philosophers of particular sciences. A fruitful approach to these problems combines the study of scientific detail with the kind of conceptual analysis that is characteristic of the modern analytic tradition. Such an approach is shared by these contributors: some primarily known as analytic philosophers, some as philosophers of science, but all deeply aware that the problems of analysis and interpretation link these fields together.

The book starts with the assumption that vagueness is a fundamental property of this world. From a philosophical account of vagueness via the presentation of alternative mathematics of vagueness, the subsequent chapters explore how vagueness manifests itself in the various exact sciences: physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, computer science, and engineering.

This is Volume III of eight in a series on the Philosophy of Logic and Mathematics. Originally published in 1948, this book portrays an outline of logic and of the methodology of the exact sciences.

This volume is a collective exploration of major themes in the work of Crispin Wright, one of today's leading philosophers. The distinguished contributors address a variety of issues, including truth, realism, anti-realism, relativism, and scepticism, and testify to Wright's seminal work on language, mind, metaphysics, and epistemology.

The idea that mathematics is reducible to logic has a long history, but it was Frege who gave logicism an articulation and defense that transformed it into a distinctive philosophical thesis with a profound influence on the development of philosophy in the twentieth century. This volume of classic, revised and newly written essays by William Demopoulos examines logicism's principal legacy for philosophy: its elaboration of notions of analysis and reconstruction. The essays reflect on the deployment of these ideas by the principal figures in the history of the subject - Frege, Russell, Ramsey and Carnap - and in doing so illuminate current concerns about the nature of mathematical and theoretical knowledge. Issues addressed include the nature of arithmetical knowledge in the light of Frege's theorem; the status of realism about the theoretical entities of physics; and the proper interpretation of empirical theories that postulate abstract structural constraints.

This clear, student-friendly text offers a step-by-step introduction to the use of SPSS - easily the most widely used data analysis computer package in the social sciences. Supported by four datasets taken from the well-known British Social Attitudes Survey on the topics crime, health, politics and poverty, it offers an eminently practical approach to its subject, while still setting its explanation of statistical procedures within the wider social research context.

Lviv has a long scientific tradition. The present book provides the panoramic overview of the development of exact sciences in the city from the beginning of “scientific studies” (from the middle of the 17th century, when the Lviv University was founded) to World War II. The history of Lviv scientific centers, namely, the Lviv University, the Lviv Polytechnic and the Shevchenko Scientific Society, is presented. Other chapters are devoted to exact sciences, i.e. mathematics, physics and astronomy. The book will appeal to wide audience interested in the history of Lviv, the development of scientific knowledge and higher education in the city.

Evolution of Particle Physics is concerned with the birth of particle physics and its maturation as a scientific field, with emphasis on advances in both theory and experiment. Topics covered include weak interactions and the breaking of hadron symmetries; the role of complexity in nature; symmetry principles in physics; and isobaric analog resonances in phenomenological nuclear spectroscopy. Adiabatic transformations as well as range and straggling of muons are also discussed. This book is comprised of 24 chapters and begins with a review of some of the most important discoveries in particle physics, along with the tools and techniques that made it possible. The reader is then introduced to symmetry breaking, paying particular attention to hadron symmetries and their connection to weak interactions. The following chapters explore channeling of ultrarelativistic charged particles in crystals; coherent scattering of high-energy hadrons by light nuclei; elementary particle physics and high-energy physics; and the design and use of large electron synchrotrons. This monograph will be of interest to particle physicists.