SCIENCE IN REFLE CTiON

Transcription

1 SCIENCE IN REFLE CTiON

2 BOSTON STUDIES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE Editor ROBERT S. COHEN, Boston University Editorial Advisory Board ADOLF GRUNBAUM, University of Pittsburgh SYL VAN S. SCHWEBER, Brandeis University JOHN J. STACHEL, Boston University MARX W. WARTOFSKY, Baruch College of the City University of New York VOLUME 110

3 SCIENCE IN REFLECTION The Israel Colloquium: Studies in History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science Volume 3 Edited by EDNA ULLMANN-MARGALIT KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS DORDRECHT / BOSTON / LONDON

4 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Science in reflection I edited by Edna Ullmann-Margalit. p. cm. -- (Boston studies in the philosophy of science: v. 110) (The Israel colloquium: studies in history, philosophy, and sociology of science; v. 3) Inc I udes index. ISBN ISBN (pbk.) 1. Science--Phi losophy--congresses. 2. SCience--Social aspects -Congresses. I. Ullmann-Margalit, Edna. II. Series. III. Series: Israel colloquium: v. 3. Q174.B67 vol s--dc19 [501] ISBN-13: DOl: lo.107/ e-isbn-13: CIP Published by Kluwer Academic Publishers, P.o. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Kluwer Academic Publishers incorporates the publishing programmes of D. Reidel, Martinus Nijhoff, Dr W. Junk and MTP Press. Sold and distributed in the U.S.A. and Canada by Kluwer Academic Publishers, 101 Philip Drive, Norwell, MA 02061, U.S.A. In all other countries, sold and distributed by Kluwer Academic Publishers Group, P.O. Box 322,3300 AH Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Prepared in cooperation with Mrs. Esther Shashar, executive editor, The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. All Rights Reserved 1988 by Kluwer Academic Publishers No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.

5 THE ISRAEL COLLOQUIUM: STUDIES IN HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, AND SOCIOLOGY OF SCIENCE The Governing Board Yehuda Elkana Michael Heyd Asa Kasher Coordinator Edna Ullmann-Margalit Advisory Editorial Board Robert S. Cohen Boston University Yehuda Elkana Tel-Aviv University and The Van Leer-Jerusalem Institute Gerald Holton Harvard University The Advisory Committee Joseph Ben-David Aryeh Dworetzky Jacob Eckstein Yaron Ezrahi Michael Feldman Seymour Fox Saul Friedlander Amos Funkenstein Max Jammer Shneior Lifson Yuval Ne'eman Shlomo Pines Shmuel Sambursky David Samuel Ben-Ami Scharfstein Ozer Schild Mark Steiner Ezra Talmor Zvi Yavetz The Israel Colloquium for the History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science was established in the academy year It offers, annually, a series of public lectures, alternately in Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv. It is sponsored and directed jointly by three bodies: The Center for the History and Philosophy of Science, Technology, and Medicine of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; The Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas of Tel-Aviv University; and The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. The advisory board of the Israel Colloquium represents all the institutions of higher learning in Israel.

6 Contents Preface lx CARL G. HEMPEL, Princeton University Limits of a Deductive Construal of the Function of Scientific Theories YEMIMA BEN-MENACHEM, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Limits of a Deductive Construal of the Function of Scientific Theories: A Comment 17 GUNTHER STENT, University of California, Berkeley Cognitive Limits of Science 23 LORENZ KROGER, Universitiit Gottingen How Philosophy and Science Came to Differ 37 JON ELSTER, The University of Chicago The Nature and Scope of Rational-Choice Explanation 51 MARCELO DASCAL, Tel-Aviv University Rational-Choice Explanation - The Limits to Grounding: A Comment 67 L. JONATHAN COHEN, The Queen's College, Oxford Realism Versus Anti-Realism: What Is the Issue? 81 EDDY M. ZEMACH, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Epistemic and Semantic Reflections on Scientific Realism: A Comment 97

7 viii CONTENTS DAVID M. ARMSTRONG, The University of Sydney Can a Naturalist Believe in Universals? 103 GILEAD BAR-ELL!, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Can a Naturalist Believe in Universals? A Comment 117 GAD FREUDENTHAL, CNRS, Paris The Hermeneutical Status of the History of Science: The Views of Helene Metzger 123 PIERRE KERSZBERG, The University of Sydney The Hermeneutical Status of the History of Science: The Views of Helene Metzger: A Comment 145 THOMAS P. HUGHES, University of Pennsylvania The Era of Independent Inventors 151 TIMOTHY LENOIR, Stanford University Social Interests and the Organic Physics of JOSEPH BEN-DAVID, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Social Interests and the Organic Physics of 1847: A Comment 193 JOHN L. HEILBRON, University of California, Berkeley The Earliest Missionaries of the Copenhagen Spirit 201 Index of Names 235

8 Preface The Israel Colloquium for the History, Philosophy and Sociology of Science presents before you its third volume of proceedings. The philosophy section of the volume has three main foci: the scientific explanation (Hempel and Ben-Menachem, Elster and Dascal); realism in science (Cohen and Zemach) and its implications for the problem of universals (Armstrong and Bar-Elli); and the question of demarcation: the dividing line between science and philosophy (KrUger), as well as the cognitive limits of science (Stent). There is no neat separation in this volume between essays on the history of science and those on the sociology of science, and perhaps properly so. Thus, Lenoir's contribution is a clear example of the way the two disciplines combine and interrelate. Joseph Ben-David's comment on this lecture was among the last things he wrote, knowing full well that his days were numbered. Reading his contribution imparts a strong sense of loss, the loss of a great sociologist and a wise man. Not only history, however, but also historiography is a subject for reflection in this volume (Freudenthal and Kerszberg). And, finally, a couple of articles convey the sense of fascination with science as a story (Heilbron, Hughes). We have by now come to expect from the investigations reported in the Israel Colloquium series not surface unity of theme and method, but rather an underlying common commitment and zest for the scientific enterprise at its best. The third volume hopes to join the first two in footing this bill. Edna Ullmann-Margalit The Hebrew University of Jerusalem IX