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

Book details
Table of contents
Citations

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.

Frequently asked questions

Simply head over to the account section in settings and click on “Cancel Subscription” - it’s as simple as that. After you cancel, your membership will stay active for the remainder of the time you’ve paid for. Learn more here.
At the moment all of our mobile-responsive ePub books are available to download via the app. Most of our PDFs are also available to download and we're working on making the final remaining ones downloadable now. Learn more here.
Both plans give you full access to the library and all of Perlego’s features. The only differences are the price and subscription period: With the annual plan you’ll save around 30% compared to 12 months on the monthly plan.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn more here.
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.
Yes, you can access The Limits Of Science by Nicholas Rescher in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Sciences biologiques & Science générale. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher
University of Pittsburgh Press
Year
2014
ISBN
9780822972068
Topic
Sciences biologiques
Subtopic
Science générale

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