Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Philosophy and meta-philosophy of science: Empiricism, popperianism and realism

  • Published:
Synthese Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

An explicit philosophy and meta-philosophy of positivism, empiricism and popperianism is provided. Early popperianism is argued to be essentially a form of empiricism, the deviations from empiricism are traced. In contrast, the meta-philosophy and philosophy of an evolutionary naturalistic realism is developed and it is shown how the maximal conflict of this doctrine with all forms of empiricism at the meta-philosophical level both accounts for the form of its development at the philosophical level and its defense against attack from nonrealist quarters. Following an earlier article on realism of similar theme (Synthese 26 (1974), 409) this paper then further explores the ramifications of a thoroughgoing realist position.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Bibliography

  1. Achinstein, P. and Barker, S. (eds.), The Legacy of Logical Positivism, Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1969.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Althusser, L., Pour Marx, Maspero, Paris, 1965 (Translated as For Marx, Penguin, London, 1969.)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Arbib, M. A., Brains, Machines and Mathematics, McGraw Hill, N.Y., 1954.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Arbib, M. A., The Metaphorical Mind, Wiley-Interscience, N.Y., 1972.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Aune, B., Knowledge, Mind and Nature, Random House, N.Y., 1967.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Aune, B., Rationalism, Empiricism, Pragmatism: An Introduction, N.Y., 1970.

  7. Ayer, A. J., Language, Truth and Logic, Gollancz, London, 1946.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Ayer, A. J., The Foundations of Empirical Knowledge, Macmillan, N.Y., 1940.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Ayer, A. J., (ed.), Logical Positivism, Free Press, 1959.

  10. Bergmann, G., The Metaphysics of Logical Positivism, Longmans, Green & Co., N.Y., 1954.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Bridgeman, P. W., The Logic of Modern Physics, MacMillan, N.Y., 1927.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Bridgeman, P. W., The Nature of Physical Theory, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1936.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Bunge, M. (ed.), The Critical Approach to Science and Philosophy, The Free Press, N.Y., 1964.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Campbell, D. T., ‘Evolutionary Epistemology’, in [97].

    Google Scholar 

  15. Campbell, N. R., Foundations of Science, Dover, N.Y., 1957.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Capek, M., The Philosophical Impact of Contemporary Physics, Van Nostrand, Princeton, N.J., 1961.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Carnap, T., Der Logische Aufbau der Welt, Weltkreis, Berlin, 1928. (Translated by R. A. George and Published as The Logical Structure of the World, together with Pseudo-Problems in Philosophy, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1967.)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Carnap, R., ‘Über Protokollsatz’, Erkenntnis 3 (1932), 215–228.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Carnap, R., Der Logische Syntax der Sprache, Wien 1934. (Translated as The Logical Syntax of Language, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1964.)

  20. Carnap, R., ‘Testability and Meaning’, Philosophy of Science 3 (1936), 419–471, 4 (1937), 1–40. (An attenuated version is included in [28].)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Carnap, R., ‘Empiricism, Semantics and Ontology’, Revue Internationale de Philosophie 4 (1950) (Reprinted in [70] and in Meaning and Necessity, 2nd ed., University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1956.)

  22. Carnap, R., The Logical Foundations of Probability, 2nd ed., University of Chicago, Press, Chicago, 1962.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Carnap, R., ‘The Methodological Character of Theoretician Concepts’, in Minnesota Studies in The Philosophy of Science, Vol. I (ed. by H. Feigl and M. Scriven), University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1956.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Churchland, P. M., ‘Sentential Epistemologies and The Natural Science of Epistemic Engines’, mimeographed.

  25. de Santillana, S. and Zilsel, E., The Development of Rationalism and Empiricism, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1941. (Also in [75].)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Feigl, H., ‘Logical Empiricism’, in D. D. Runes (ed.), Twentieth Century Philosophy, Philosophical Library, N.Y., 1943. (Also in [70].)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Feigl, H. and Sellers, W., Readings in Philosophical Analysis, Appleton-Century-Crofts, N.Y., 1949.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Feigl, H. and Brodbeck, M. (eds.), Readings in the Philosophy of Science, Appleton-Century-Crofts, N.Y., 1953.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Feyerabend, P. K., ‘Popper's Objective Knowledge’, Inquiry 17 (1974), 475–507.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Ficant, M. and Pecheux, M., Sur l'Histoires des Science, Maspero, Paris, 1969.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Frank, P., Philosophy of Science, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1957.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Georgiescu-Rogan, N., The Entropy Law and the Economic Process, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1971.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Goodman, N., The Structure of Appearance, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1951.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Grossman, N., ‘Empiricism and the Possibility of Encountering Intelligent Beings with Different Sense Structures’, Journal of Philosophy 70 (1974), 815–823.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Habermas, J., Erkenntnis und Interesse, Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt Am Main, 1968. (Translated, with an additional appendix, as Knowledge and Human Interests, Beacon Press, Boston, 1971.)

    Google Scholar 

  36. Hanson, N. R., Patterns of Discovery, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1965.

    Google Scholar 

  37. Hempel, C. G., Fundamentals of Concept Formation in the Empirical Sciences. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1952. (Also in [75].)

    Google Scholar 

  38. Hempel, C. G., ‘Problems and Changes in the Empiricist Criterion of Meaning’, Revue Internationale de Philosophie 11 (1950), 41–63 (and in [42]).

    Google Scholar 

  39. Hempel, C. G., ‘On the ‘Standard Conception’ of Scientific Theory’ in Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. IV (ed. by M. Radner and S. Winokur), University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1970.

    Google Scholar 

  40. Hempel, C. G., ‘The Theoretician's Dilemma’ in Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. II (ed. by H. Feigl and G. Maxwell), University of Minnesota Press, 1958 (and in [42]).

  41. Hempel C. G. Philosophy of Natural Science, Prentice-Hall, N.Y., 1966.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Hempel, C. G., Aspects of Scientific Explanation, Free Press, N.Y., 1965.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Hooker, C. A., ‘Critical Notice: Radner, M. and Winokur, S. (eds.), Analysis of Theories and Methods of Physics and Psychology, Canadian Journal of Philosophy 1 (1972), 393–407.

    Google Scholar 

  44. Hooker, C. A., ‘Critical Notice: Against Method, P.K. Feyerabend’, Canadian Journal of Philosophy 1 (1972), 489–509.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Hooker, C. G., ‘Empiricism, Perception and Conceptual Change’, Canadian Journal of Philosophy 3 (1973), 59–75.

    Google Scholar 

  46. Hooker, C. A., ‘Systematic Realism’, Synthese 26 (1974), 409–497. (Erratum: Diagram appears in subsequent issue.)

    Google Scholar 

  47. Hooker, C. A., ‘Global Theories’, Philosophy of Science 42 (1975), 152–179.

    Google Scholar 

  48. Hooker, C. A., ‘The Philosophical Ramifications of the Information-Processing Approach to the Mind-Brain’, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 36 (1975) 1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  49. Jeffrey, R. C., ‘Probability and Falsification: Critique of the Popper Program’, Synthese 30 (1975), 95–118.

    Google Scholar 

  50. Joergenson, J., The Development of Logical Empiricism, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1951. (Also in [75].)

    Google Scholar 

  51. Kohlberg, L., ‘From Is to Ought: How to Commit the Naturalistic Fallacy and Get Away With It in The Study of Moral Development’, in [69].

    Google Scholar 

  52. Kohlberg, L., ‘The Claim to Moral Adequacy of a Highest Stage of Moral Development’, Journal of Philosophy 70 (1973), 634–5.

    Google Scholar 

  53. Kuhn, T. S., The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1962. (Also in [75].)

    Google Scholar 

  54. Lakatos, I. and Musgrave, A., Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge, Cambridge University Press, 1970, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  55. Lakatos, I. (ed.), The Problem of Inductive Logic, North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1968.

    Google Scholar 

  56. Lakatos, I., ‘Changes in the Problem of Inductive Logic’, in [55].

    Google Scholar 

  57. Lenneberg, E. H., Biological Foundations of Language, Wiley, New York, 1967.

    Google Scholar 

  58. Lewontin, R. C., ‘Evolution and the Theory of Games’, Journal of Theoretical Biology 1 (1961), 382–403.

    Google Scholar 

  59. Mach, E., The Science of Mechanics (Translated by T. J. McCormak, 6th ed.) Open Court, La Salle, Ill. 1960.

    Google Scholar 

  60. Mach, E., Analyses of Sensations and the Relation of the Physical to the Psychical, Dover, N.Y., 1959.

    Google Scholar 

  61. Marchi, E. and Hansell, R. C., ‘A Framework for Systemic Zoological Studies with Game Theory’, Mathematical Biosciences 16 (1973), 31–58.

    Google Scholar 

  62. Margenau, H., The Nature of Physical Reality, N.Y., McGraw-Hill, 1950.

    Google Scholar 

  63. Masters, R. D., ‘Genes, Language and Evolution’, Semiotica 2 (1970), 295–320.

    Google Scholar 

  64. Maxwell, G. ‘The Ontological Status of Theoretical Entities’ in Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. III (ed. by H. Feigl and G. Maxwell), University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1962.

    Google Scholar 

  65. Maxwell, G., ‘Structural Realism and the Meaning of Theoretical Terms’, in Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy Science, Vol. IV (1970).

  66. Maxwell, N., ‘The Rationality of Scientific Discovery’, Philosophy of Science 41 (1974), 123–153. (part I), 247–295 (part II).

    Google Scholar 

  67. Miller, D., ‘Poppers Qualitative Theory of Verisimilitude’, British Journal in the Philosophy of Science 25 (1974), 166–177.

    Google Scholar 

  68. Miller, D., ‘The Accuracy of Predictions’, Synthese 30 (1975), 139–148.

    Google Scholar 

  69. Mischel, T. (ed.), Cognitive Development and Epistemology, Academic Press, N.Y., 1971.

    Google Scholar 

  70. Morick, H., Challenges to Empiricism, Wadsworth, Belmont, Cal., 1972.

    Google Scholar 

  71. Morowitz, H. J., Energy Flow in Biology: Biological Organization as a Problem in Thermal Physics, Academic Press, N.Y., 1968.

    Google Scholar 

  72. Nagel, E., The Structure of Science, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1961.

    Google Scholar 

  73. Neurath, O., ‘Protokollsatz’, Erkenntnis 3 (1932), 204–214.

    Google Scholar 

  74. Neurath, O., Foundations of the Social Sciences, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1952. (Also in [75].)

    Google Scholar 

  75. Neurath, O., Carnap, R., and Morriss, C. (eds.), Foundations of the Unity of Science, 2 vols., University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1970.

    Google Scholar 

  76. Odum, H. T., Environment, Power and Society, Wiley-Interscience, N.Y., 1971.

    Google Scholar 

  77. Oster, G. and Rocklin, S., ‘Competition Between Phenotypes’, Paper read at the 1st International Conference on Ecology, The Hague, 1974.

  78. Pap, A., An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science, Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1963.

    Google Scholar 

  79. Pattee, H., Hierarchy Theory: The Challenge of Complex Systems, Geo Brazilier, N.Y., 1973.

    Google Scholar 

  80. Piaget, J., The Construction of Reality in the Child, Basic Books, N. Y., 1954.

    Google Scholar 

  81. Piaget, J., Genetic Epistemology (translated by E. Drakworth), Columbia, New York, 1970.

  82. Piaget, J., Biology and Knowledge (translated by B. Walsh), University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1971.

    Google Scholar 

  83. Popper, K. R., Logik der Forschung, Wien 1934 (Translated as The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Hutchinson, London, 1962.)

  84. Popper, K. R., Conjectures and Refutations, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1963.

    Google Scholar 

  85. Popper, K. R., The Open Society and Its Enemies, 2 vols., Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1963.

    Google Scholar 

  86. Popper, K. R., Objective Knowledge, University Press, Oxford, Oxford, 1973.

    Google Scholar 

  87. Putnam, H., ‘What Theories are Not’, in E. Nagel, P. Suppes and A. Tarski (eds.), Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science, Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1962.

    Google Scholar 

  88. Quine, W. V. O., ‘Two Dogmas of Empiricism’, The Philosophical Review 60 (1951), reprinted in From a Logical Point of View, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1953.

    Google Scholar 

  89. Quine, W. V. O., ‘On Carnap's Views on Ontology’, Philosophical Studies 2 (1951), reprinted in The Ways of Paradox, Random House, N.Y., 1966.

  90. Radintzky, G., Contemporary Schools of Meta-Science, 2 vols. (bound together), Berlingska Boktryckeriet, Goteborg, Akademiforlaget, 1970.

    Google Scholar 

  91. Radintzky, G., ‘From Logic of Science to Theory of Research’, Communication and Cognition 1 (1971), 61–124.

    Google Scholar 

  92. Reichenbach, H., Experience and Prediction, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  93. Reichenbach, H., The Rise of Scientific Philosophy, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1951.

    Google Scholar 

  94. Russell, B., ‘Logical Atomism’ in J. H. Muirhead (ed.), Contemporary British Philosophy, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1924. (Also in [70].)

    Google Scholar 

  95. Russell, B., The Analysis of Matter, Harcourt, Brace & Co., N.Y., 1927 (Dover, 1954).

    Google Scholar 

  96. Schilpp, P. A. (ed.), The Philosophy of Rudolf Carnap, Open Court Publishing Co., La Salle, Ill., 1963.

    Google Scholar 

  97. Schilpp, P. A. (ed.), The Philosophy of Karl Popper, Open Court Publishing Co., La Salle, Ill., 1973.

    Google Scholar 

  98. Schlick, M., ‘Positivismus and Realismus’, Erkenntnis 3 (1932), 1–31.

    Google Scholar 

  99. Schlick, M., Philosophy of Nature, Philosophical Library, N.Y., 1949.

    Google Scholar 

  100. Sebeok, T. A., Perspectives in Zoosemiotics, Mouton, The Hague, 1972.

    Google Scholar 

  101. Sellars, W., Science, Perception and Reality, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1963.

    Google Scholar 

  102. Skolimowski, H. and Freeman, E., ‘The Search for Objectivity in Pierce and Popper’, in [97].

    Google Scholar 

  103. Smith, F. and Miller, G., The Genesis of Language, M.I.T. Press, Cambridge Mass, 1966.

    Google Scholar 

  104. Stachel, J., ‘A Note on the Concept of Scientific Practice’ in Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science vol. XV, Reidel, Dordrecht 1973. (This contains a useful bibliography.)

    Google Scholar 

  105. Suppe, F. (ed.), The Structure of Scientific Theories, Urbana, Ill., University of Illinois Press, 1973. (See especially the essay by Suppe therein.)

    Google Scholar 

  106. Templeton, A. R. and Rothman, E. D., ‘Evolution in Heterogeneous Environments’, The American Naturalist 28 (1974), 409–478.

    Google Scholar 

  107. Tornebohm, H., Science of Science, Lectures at Euratom, 1969. Department of Theory of Science, University of Goteborg, Publication No. 11.

  108. Toulmin, S., Foresight and Understanding, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1962.

    Google Scholar 

  109. Toulmin, S., Human Understanding, Princeton University Press, Princeton N.J., 1972.

    Google Scholar 

  110. Von Mises, R., Positivism, A Study in Human Understanding, Dover, N.Y., 1951.

    Google Scholar 

  111. Weinberg, J., An Examination of Logical Positivism, Harcourt, Brace and World, N.Y., 1936.

    Google Scholar 

  112. Wimsatt, W., ‘Complexity and Organization’ in K. F. Schaffner and R. S. Cohen (eds.), Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. XX, Reidel, Dordrecht, 1974.

    Google Scholar 

  113. Wittgenstein, L., Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, (translated by D. F. Pears, and B. F. McGuiness), Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1951.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Western Ontario, Canada

    C. A. Hooker

Authors
  1. C. A. Hooker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hooker, C.A. Philosophy and meta-philosophy of science: Empiricism, popperianism and realism. Synthese 32, 177–231 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00485116

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00485116

Keywords

Search

Navigation