Beauty & Revolution in Science

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ISBN: 9780801486258 | 0801486254
Cover: Paperback
Copyright: 10/1/1999

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How reasonable and rational can science be when its practitioners speak of "revolutions" in their thinking and extol certain theories for their "beauty"? James W. McAllister addresses this question with the first systematic study of the aesthetic evaluations that scientists pass on their theories.

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

(6)

Two Challenges to Rationalism

(17)

The Rationalist Image of Science

(2)

A Rationalist Model of Theory Evaluation

(3)

Aesthetic Factors in Discovery and Justification

(4)

The Boundaries of Scientific Behavior

(1)

A Precursor: Hutcheson's Account of Beauty in Science

(7)

Abstract Entities and Aesthetic Evaluations

(15)

The Distinction between Theories and Their Representations

(2)

The Disregard of Abstract Entities by the Actor-Network Theory

(2)

Perceiving the Properties of Abstract Entities

(1)

Aesthetic Values, Properties, and Evaluations

(5)

Aesthetic Criteria and Canons

(1)

Identifying Which Properties of Theories Are Aesthetic

(4)

The Aesthetic Properties of Scientific Theories

(22)

Classes of Aesthetic Properties

(2)

Form of Symmetry

(3)

Invocation of a Model

(4)

Visualization and Abstractness

(6)

Metaphysical Allegiance

(5)

Beauty in the Biological and Social Sciences

(2)

The Erroneous Views of Scientists' Aesthetic Judgments

(9)

The Theory of Aesthetic Disinterestedness

(3)

The Accord of Aesthetic and Empirical Judgments

(3)

Reductionism about Aesthetic and Empirical Judgments

(3)

The Inductive Construction of Aesthetic Preference

(20)

Precepts and Their Warrants

(5)

The Warrant of Empirical Criteria

(2)

The Aesthetic Induction

(4)

The Conservatism of Aesthetic Canons

(4)

Fashions and Styles in Science

(1)

An Example of Scientific Style: Mechanicism

(4)

The Relation of Beauty to Truth

(15)

Beauty as an Attribute of Truth

(2)

Aesthetic Judgment and the Recognition of Truth and Falsity

(4)

Einstein's Account of Theory Assessment

(2)

The Properties of Theories and the Properties of Phenomena

(2)

The Possible Success of the Aesthetic Induction

100

(2)

The Empirical Corroboration of Metaphysical World Views

102

(3)

A Study of Simplicity

105

(20)

The Controversy about Scientists' Simplicity Judgments

105

(4)

Simplicity and the Unification of Phenomena

109

(2)

Degrees and Forms of Simplicity

111

(7)

Quantitative Definitions of Simplicity in Theory Choice

118

(2)

Simplicity, Beauty, and Truth

120

(5)

Revolution as Aesthetic Rupture

125

(16)

The Occurrence of Scientific Revolutions

125

(3)

The Abandonment of Aesthetic Commitments

128

(5)

Continuity and Rupture in Revolutions

133

(2)

Understanding Past Science

135

(2)

Factors Inducing and Inhibiting Revolutions

137

(2)

The Analogy with Moral and Political Revolutions

139

(2)

Induction and Revolution in the Applied Arts

141

(22)

Aesthetic Judgments and Utilitarian Performance

141

(1)

The Response of Architectural Design to Iron and Steel

142

(12)

The Use of Reinforced Concrete in Architecture

154

(3)

Materials and Forms in Industrial Design

157

(2)

The Induction to Styles

159

(4)

Circles and Ellipses in Astronomy

163

(19)

Testing the Model against History

163

(1)

Did Copernicus's Theory Constitute an Empirical Advance?

164

(4)

Copernicus's Return to Aristotelian Principles

168

(3)

The Aesthetic Preference for Copernicus's Theory

171

(4)

Kuhn's Account of the Acceptance of Copernicanism

175

(2)

The Iconoclasm of Kepler's Ellipses

177

(5)

Continuity and Revolution in Twentieth-Century Physics

182

(20)

Two Flaws in Classical Physics

182

(1)

Aesthetic Factors in the Appeal of Relativity Theory

183

(5)

Quantum Theory and the Loss of Visualization

188

(7)

The Renunciation of Determinism

195

(7)

Rational Reasons for Aesthetic Choices

202

(7)

Review of Results

202

(2)

A Rational Warrant for Aesthetic Commitments

204

(1)

The Rationality of Revolutions

205

(2)

A Natural Inductive Disposition

207

(2)

References

209

(18)

Index

227

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Beauty & Revolution in Science

Summary

Table of Contents

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