Scientific nihilism : on the loss and recovery of physical explanation /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Athearn, Daniel, 1951-
Imprint:Albany : State University of New York Press, ©1994.
Description:1 online resource (ix, 387 pages) : illustrations.
Language:English
Series:SUNY series in philosophy
SUNY series in philosophy.
Subject:
Format: E-Resource Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/11102387
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ISBN:0585044430
9780585044439
0791418073
0791418081
Notes:Includes bibliographical references (pages 367-380) and index.
English.
Print version record.
Other form:Print version: Athearn, Daniel, 1951- Scientific nihilism. Albany : State University of New York Press, ©1994 0791418073
Table of Contents:
  • Acknowledgments
  • Part 1. Current Outlooks in the Shadow of the Technicalization of Physics
  • Introduction
  • 1. The Causalist Quest in Physical Science
  • Early Philosophical Turbulence
  • Advanced Causalist Physics
  • The New Era of Physics and the Reign of the Cult of Surfaces
  • 2. "Law Explanation"
  • Foundations of Logico-Empiricism
  • Instrumentalism and Antirealism: Breaking the Link
  • The "Covering Law" Model
  • Why Theory of Explanation?
  • 3. Philosophy and the Structure of Causation
  • The Positivist Conception of Science
  • Schlick's Humean Arguments
  • Positivists on Indeterminism
  • Hobart's Defense of Hume
  • Is "Productionism" Anthropomorphism?
  • Conclusions
  • 4. Causal Realist Projects, I
  • Composition of Causes
  • Ontology of Latent Properties
  • The Success of Critical Realism
  • Causality and Forces
  • Conclusions
  • 5. Causal Realist Projects, II
  • The Theory of Transmission
  • Explanation as a Theme: A Mark of Basic Acausalism
  • "Probabilistic" Process
  • Conclusion
  • Part 2. Physical Ontology
  • Introduction
  • 6. Radiation and Causality
  • Enigmatic Physical Activity
  • Empty Space Events?
  • Causal Contour
  • The Transition in Interaction
  • Conclusion
  • 7. Time, Space, and Genetic Structure
  • Whitehead on Time and "Process"
  • A Sense-Making Application
  • The Ontological Shift
  • Conclusions and Ramifications
  • 8. Interatomic Reality
  • Realism and Quantum Interpretation
  • Richness of the Concept of Causality
  • Quantum Mysteries
  • Propagation and Spatial Representation
  • Explanation and Causal Composition
  • Summary and Transition
  • 9. Absolute Causal Reference
  • History of the Problem
  • Whitehead's Solution
  • Flat Transition and Structured Transition
  • Conclusion
  • 10. Velocity C and Emergent Extension
  • Relativity: Theories, Models, Explanations
  • The Nature of the Problem
  • Furnishing the Physical Context
  • Whitehead's Theory
  • Conclusions
  • Notes
  • Index