Proceedings of the Boston Colloquium for the Philosophy of Science 1964/1966

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XLIX

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2. The Early Modern Revolution in Science and Philosophy

   1. The Early Modern Revolution in Science and Philosophy

      • Benjamin Nelson

      Pages 1-40

3. Taxonomy and Information

   1. Taxonomy and Information

      • David Hawkins

      Pages 41-55

4. On the Elementarity of Measurement in General Relativity: Toward a General Theory

   1. On the Elementarity of Measurement in General Relativity: Toward a General Theory

      • Mendel Sachs

      Pages 56-80

5. Symposium on Innate Ideas

   1. Recent Contributions to the Theory of Innate Ideas

      • Noam Chomsky

      Pages 81-90

   2. The ‘Innateness Hypothesis’ and Explanatory Models in Linguistics

      • Hilary Putnam

      Pages 91-101

   3. The Epistemological Argument

      • Nelson Goodman

      Pages 102-107

   4. Natural Kinds

      • G. Schlesinger

      Pages 108-122

   5. Metaphysics as Heuristic for Science

      • Marx Wartofsky

      Pages 123-172

   6. Comments

      • Ruth Anna Putnam

      Pages 173-180

   7. Rationalism and the Physical World

      • C. Lanczos

      Pages 181-198

   8. On the Foundations of Probability Theory

      • Hilda Geiringer

      Pages 199-227

   9. Comments

      • Laszlo Tisza

      Pages 228-235

   10. Elementarity and Reality in Particle Physics

       • William A. Wallace

       Pages 236-263

   11. Comments

       • Mary B. Miller

       Pages 264-271

   12. Semantic Sources of the Concept of Law

       • Gerd Buchdahl

       Pages 272-292

   13. Science in Flux

       • Joseph Agassi

       Pages 293-323

   14. Comments

       • Judith Jarvis Thomson

       Pages 324-330

   15. Conceptual Revolutions in Science

       • Stephen Toulmin

       Pages 331-347

   16. Comment on Stephen Toulmin’s ‘Conceptual Revolutions in Science’

       • Louis O. Mink

       Pages 348-355

This third volume of Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science contains papers which are based upon Colloquia from 1964 to 1966. In most cases, they have been substantially modified subsequent to presentation and discussion. Once again we publish work which goes beyond technical analysis of scientific theories and explanations in order to include philo­ sophical reflections upon the history of science and also upon the still problematic interactions between metaphysics and science. The philo­ sophical history of scientific ideas has increasingly been recognized as part of the philosophy of science, and likewise the cultural context of the genesis of such ideas. There is no school or attitude to be taken as de­ fining the scope or criteria of our Colloquium, and so we seek to under­ stand both analytic and historical aspects of science. This volume, as the previous two, constitutes a substantial part of our final report to the U. S. National Science Foundation, which has continued its support of the Boston Colloquium for the Philosophy of Science by a grant to Boston University. That report will be concluded by a subse­ quent volume of these Studies. It is a pleasure to record our thanks to the Foundation for its confidence and funds. We dedicate this book to the memory of Norwood Russell Hanson. During this academic year of 1966-67, this beloved and distinguished American philosopher participated in our Colloquium, and he did so before.

• Karl R. Popper
• history of science
• philosophy of science
• probability
• science

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