04169nam a22004695i 4500 978-3-030-04143-4 DE-He213 20200904105942.0 cr nn 008mamaa 190309s2018 gw | s |||| 0|eng d 9783030041434 978-3-030-04143-4 10.1007/978-3-030-04143-4 doi B67 PDA bicssc SCI075000 bisacsh PDA thema 501 23 Maxwell, Nicholas. author. aut http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut The Metaphysics of Science and Aim-Oriented Empiricism [electronic resource] : A Revolution for Science and Philosophy / by Nicholas Maxwell. 1st ed. 2018. Cham : Springer International Publishing : Imprint: Springer, 2018. XIV, 228 p. 3 illus. online resource. text txt rdacontent computer c rdamedia online resource cr rdacarrier text file PDF rda Synthese Library, Studies in Epistemology, Logic, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science, 0166-6991 ; 403 Preface -- Part I. Chapter 1. Early Work on The Metaphysics of Science -- Chapter 2. Subsequent Work on Essentialism and the Mind/Body Problem -- Part II. Chapter 3. Aim-Oriented Empiricism: Exposition, and Implications for Science and the Philosophy of Science -- Chapter 4. Aim-Oriented Empiricism and the Metaphysics of Science: 2007 to 2017 -- Part III. Chapter 5. Broader Implications: Academic Inquiry for a Wiser World -- Appendix. Refutation of Kripke on Rigid Designators and Essentialism. This book tackles two fundamental problems: How can our human world exist and best flourish embedded as it is in the physical universe? What role do untestable, metaphysical ideas about the nature of the physical universe play in science? In connection with the first, it is argued that physics is concerned only with a highly selective aspect of all that there is - that aspect that determines how events unfold. Physics ignores human experience and consciousness, first because they are not needed to fulfil the predictive and explanatory tasks of physics, and second because they must be ignored if physics is to develop the beautifully explanatory theories that it does develop. In connection with the second fundamental problem, it is argued that physics, as a result of accepting unified theories only, makes a highly problematic metaphysical assumption about the nature of the physical universe: it is such that some unknown, unified "theory of everything" is true. Precisely because this assumption is so profoundly problematic, it needs to be made explicit within physics, so that it can be critically assessed and, we may hope, improved. The author puts forward a revolutionary philosophy of science called aim-oriented empiricism (AOE), designed to facilitate improvement in the metaphysics of physics, as physics proceeds. The author has devoted many years developing AOE and publishing papers on it. Here he spells out the implications of AOE for the metaphysics of science. The main body of the book expounds and critically assesses many key works in the metaphysics of science published from 2007 to 2018. The book concludes by considering the broader implications of aim-oriented empiricism, for science, for academic inquiry and, even, for the future of humanity. Philosophy and science. Philosophy of Science. https://scigraph.springernature.com/ontologies/product-market-codes/E34000 SpringerLink (Online service) Springer Nature eBook Printed edition: 9783030041427 Printed edition: 9783030041441 Synthese Library, Studies in Epistemology, Logic, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science, 0166-6991 ; 403 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04143-4 ZDB-2-REP ZDB-2-SXPR 462158 462158