Reddit reviews Science, Truth, and Democracy (Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Science)
We found 2 Reddit comments about Science, Truth, and Democracy (Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Science). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
We found 2 Reddit comments about Science, Truth, and Democracy (Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Science). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
The best intro I'm familiar with is Theory and Reality by Peter Godfrey-Smith. That's what I use for introductory courses.
Other than that, here are a few other things that (depending on your interests) might be worth your time. These are probably best read after you've gotten some exposure to the basics, which Theory and Reality should more than suffice to achieve. In no particular order:
I could go on indefinitely with this, but that's probably more than enough to keep you going for a few years. As an aside (and since you mentioned complexity already), I also recommend that anyone interested in the philosophy of science take a look at Cliff Hooker's anthology The Philosophy of Complex Systems Theory, which is (somehow) currently hanging out online for free. I paid something like $200 for the book, and while I think it was worth it, the fact that the PDF is right there is amazing. It's an incredibly wide-ranging look at some of the ways in which both philosophy and science are being shaped by complexity theory these days. It's really great.
You'll want to check out Phil Kitcher's Science, Truth, and Democracy. He addresses the realism vs. constructivism debate in the first chapter and comes out strongly on the side of realism, arguing directly against a number of anti-realist theses (while conceding a few minor points).
Personally, I've had phases of being a militant realist and a militant anti-realist. In the longer run though, I've come to think that both sides have good points to make, that the truth is more complex than either side is would have us believe, and that a strong allegiance to one side or the other will cause the student to tune-out as much information as they tune-in. Such is the nature of the 'ism' and the adversarial academic philosophical climate.