The philosophies of science

Many of you must have attempted to read philosophy books and given up. Like me, you have probably found that a lot philosophers delight in using obscure language to say nothing in particular. If this is the case, then you will find that this book is a breath of fresh air. Harré gives us a well presented overview of ideas in the philosophy of science in a compact volume. Despite the small size of this book, he covers a wide area and even manages to fit in a comprehensive summary at the end of each chapter.

Harré starts by looking at the framework of the philosophy of science, in particular the relationship between logic metaphysics and epistemology. He then goes on to investigate the forms of reasoning in science, looking first at the idea of induction, and then Popper's rejection of inductive reasoning. In the third chapter he looks at the important point of realism in scientific theories - what do we mean when we The next chapter is concerned with Continuity over time He makes the point that whether we think of the world as being made of continuous matter or separate particles is ultimately a metaphysical choice.