The Nature & Function of Scientific Theories

The six essays in this volume discuss philosophical thought on scientific theory including: a call for a realist, rather than instrumentalist interpretation of science; a critique of one of the core ideas of positivism concerning the relation between observational and theoretical languages; using aerodynamics to discuss the representational aspect of scientific theories and their isomorphic qualities; the relationship between the reliability of common sense and the authenticity of the world view of science; removing long-held ambiguities on the theory of inductive logic; and the relationship between the actuality of conceptual revolutions in the history of science and traditional philosophical pictures of scientific theory-building.

Robert G. Colodny was professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh, and the editor of numerous books on philosophy of science including: The Nature and Function of Scientific Theories: Essays in Contemporary Science and Philosophy; Paradigms and Paradoxes: The Philosophical Challenges of the Quantum Domain; and Mind and Cosmos: Essays in Contemporary Science and Philosophy.