An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science

by Rudolf Carnap

Book Overview

One of the most creative philosophers of the 20th century, Rudolf Carnap presented a series of science lectures at the University of California in 1958. The present volume is an outgrowth of that seminar, which dealt with the philosophical foundations of physics. Edited by Martin Gardner from transcripts of Carnap's classroom lectures and discussions, the book remains one of the clearest and soundest introductions to the philosophy of science.
Specially...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486283186
• ISBN13: 9780486283180
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.79 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Review by LP

A cultural cornerstone. Must be read by those who are interested in science and its history.

Not only for specialists

The value of this book is that it contains a summary of the views of Carnap in his last years, but it is readable not only for specialists. The "introduction" really menas that it is not so technical. You may read this book if you are interested in special relativity and some philosophy, or if you are curious about the scientific method and like to think abot it.

A unique product of a unique collaberation

Is this book still relevant, despite being a bit old? The answer isan unqualified YES. Why is this book the best introduction to thephilosophy of science ever written? Because it is the result of acollaberation between Rudolf Carnap (a philosophical giant) and MartinGardner--the celebrated columnest who gave us so many years of"Mathematical games," during Scientific American's golden years.Because it was co-written by a professional writer of popularmathematics, it is probably the only philosophy of science book whichcan be read and understood by the interested lay person. But becauseit is based on a series of lecture notes from one of the worldsall-time great philosophers of science, it doesn't "wimp out" on thetechnical level. If you read it you will be brought to the forefrontof philosophy of science, at least as understood by the later logicalpositivists.In short, a remarkable collaberation by two men who were at the top oftheir game. Thank God for Dover. For ten bucks you can buy a pricelessbook.

a great introduction to the philosophy of science

This is perhaps the only book in which Carnap is almost invariably informal. It is a remarkably clear introduction to some important topics in the philosophy of science: the nature of scientific laws, probability, scientific measurement, the structure of space, causality and determinism, theoretical concepts and laws, and a last chapter called "beyond determinism". The point where Carnap gets a bit formal, sections 26-28, is boring and absolutely out of date; his approach to analyticity is certainly not the best available. As for the rest, Carnap's conceptions are generally reliable (although it should be observed that his "logical conception" programme for probability was a complete failure). The sections I enjoyed most are those which deal with the structure of space. Carnap is highly proficient there (Carnap's doctoral dissertation was called "Der Raum") and his philosophical observations are always lucid and precise.

excellent read on why Science works the way it does

This is probably the clearest account of the way Science works and why certain decisions are made. Within it is contained the clearest explanation of portions of General Relativity (as a concrete example of why Einstein presented the theory in the manner he did) I've ever read, as well as many other little interesting tidbits. Some parts of the book are a bit dry, but that is probably because this book is a rewriting of college lecture notes given by the author.