PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE: PERSPECTIVES FROM SCIENTISTS

This book describes the framework of a new theory of science.

Over the last hundred years, philosophy of science has developed its theory based on what philosophers perceived what science is and what scientists do. It does not address the basic questions that scientists care about. Thus, this book examines the conventional theories of philosophy of science from a completely different point of view and describes the most difficult problems that scientists are concerned about and how science is conducted.

This book is based on the lecture notes under the same title in Honors College at the junior level in UMASS Lowell. It is qualified as a required course in Art and Humanity for science and engineering majors.

Contents:

• Introduction
• What is Philosophy?
• How Do People Acquire Knowledge?
• Elementaries of Philosophy of Science
• Science Revolutions and Paradigms
• Phases of Science
• Scientific Methods — Failed Attempts
• What is Science?
• Theory of Science
• Other Models of Philosophy of Science
• Challenging the Existing Knowledge

Readership: It can be used for scientists to guide their research and students to learn about science as a field and career. It could be interesting to high-school science teachers and the general readers who like sciences.

'This new book is clear and easy to read, and the interrogative style is very engaging of the reader. It describes the actuality of being a working scientist, our motivations, practices, and sociological interactions. I have never seen, in philosophy of science, anything approaching this written down in detail, analysed, and discussed before, and would certainly agree that it matches much of my experience. I would certainly value purchasing a copy when it is published.' - Emeritus Professor Stanley W H Cowley FRSPhysics & Astronomy, Leicester

'In the current era we need — more than ever before — an understanding of what is science. I applaud Paul Song's book for taking a practical approach to (philosophy of) science. The book makes the case that science is not rote spouting of a statement, formula, fact or number but 'Science is a process to invent new knowledge and filter out false knowledge'. For example, after doing the research, asking 'How do I get this right? How do I know I am wrong?' or, as I try to teach my students, when getting an answer to a homework question, asking Does This Make Sense (DTMS)? The text leads the reader through practical examples of how knowledge is constructed and continually tested.' - Fran Bagenal NASProfessor Emerita, University of Colorado

'Making sense of the philosophy of science has been a fraught issue ever since science matured into its modern form and practice. Paul Song's book, Philosophy of Science: Perspectives from Scientists is an important new contribution to the general field of the philosophy of science from the point of view of a working scientist and will be an excellent text for introducing budding scientists, especially graduate students and post docs, to a deeper perspective of their future work and career. I highly recommend the book and thoroughly enjoyed reading it.' - Gary Zank NASDistinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Space Physics

Key Features:

• How science is organized
• How scientists make scientific decisions with insufficient information
• The scientific method is a false concept to scientists