Name: Encouraging Openness
ISBN: 978-3-319-57669-5

Editors:

Nimrod Bar-Am⁰,
Stefano Gattei¹

Nimrod Bar-Am
1. Communication and Mass Media Department, Sapir College, Shaar Hanegev, Israel
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Stefano Gattei
1. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA
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Details recent developments and issues in critical rationalism
Challenges the received view on a variety of topics concerning science, religion, and education
Presents and expands the works of one of the most original philosophers of science today

Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science (BSPS, volume 325)

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Table of contents (42 chapters)

Front Matter

Pages i-xiv

PDF
Reflections on Rationalism as a Tradition and a Choice
1. Front Matter
  
  Pages 1-1
  
  PDF
2. Why Don’t Scientists Respect Philosophers?
  
  Mario Bunge
  
  Pages 3-12
3. Evaluative Selection in Multimerit Situations
  
  Nicholas Rescher
  
  Pages 13-17
4. Joseph Agassi from Metaphysics to Politics
  
  Christopher R. Donohue
  
  Pages 19-26
5. Horror Dogmatis
  
  Zuzana Parusniková
  
  Pages 27-39
6. Comprehensively Critical Metapolitics
  
  Michael Chiariello
  
  Pages 41-52
7. Feng Shui: An Overlooked Topic for Critical Rationalists
  
  Michael R. Matthews
  
  Pages 53-67
The Sceptic Quest for a Sensible World
1. Front Matter
  
  Pages 69-69
  
  PDF
2. Verisimilitude: Why and How
  
  Ilkka Niiniluoto
  
  Pages 71-79
3. The Story of the German Translation of Tarski’s Book on Truth
  
  Jan Woleński
  
  Pages 81-90
4. Two Philosophical Contributions to Modern Physics
  
  Jagdish Hattiangadi
  
  Pages 91-103
5. Lessons from the Philosophy of Science to Data Mining and Vice Versa
  
  Abraham Meidan
  
  Pages 105-111
6. The Mystique of Computer Technology and the Waning of Critical Enquiry
  
  Sheldon Richmond
  
  Pages 113-127
7. Francis Bacon, Karl Popper, Michael Polanyi, and Modern Experimental Biology
  
  Ute Deichmann
  
  Pages 129-142
8. Ebola in West Africa: Biosocial and Biomedical Reflections
  
  Daniel B. Cohen
  
  Pages 143-164
Making Sense of a Changing Past: History and Historiography
1. Front Matter
  
  Pages 165-165
  
  PDF
2. Jacob & Esau Today: The End of a Two Millennia Paradigm?
  
  Malachi H. Hacohen
  
  Pages 167-190
3. Charity, Logic, and Para-Clericalism: Rereading Agassi on Koestler on Galileo
  
  Maurice A. Finocchiaro
  
  Pages 191-206
4. What Is the Problem? Understanding the History of Ideas
  
  William Berkson
  
  Pages 207-214

About this book

This volume features forty-two essays written in honor of Joseph Agassi. It explores the work and legacy of this influential philosopher, an exciting and challenging advocate of critical rationalism. Throughout six decades of stupendous intellectual activity, Agassi called attention to rationality as the very starting point of every notable philosophical way of life.

The essays present Agassi’s own views on critical rationalism. They also develop and expand upon his work in new and provocative ways. The authors include Agassi's most notable pupils, friends, and colleagues. Overall, their contributions challenge the received view on a variety of issues concerning science, religion, and education.

Readers will find well-reasoned arguments on such topics as the secular problem of evil, religion and critical thinking, liberal democratic educational communities, democracy and constitutionalism, and capitalism at a crossroad.

To Joseph Agassi, philosophy is the practice of reason, where reason is understood as the relentless search for criticisms of the best available explanations that we have to the world around us. This book not only honors one of the most original philosophers of science today. It also offers readers insights into a school of thought that lies at the heart of philosophy.

Keywords

Critical Rationalism
Philosophy of Science
Philosophy of Economics
History of Ideas
Education and Religion
Philosophy of Technology
Philosophy of Social Science
Logical Extremism
Karl Popper
educational communities
Secular Problem of Evil

Reviews

“I fully recommend this book to those interested in Agassi’s philosophy, in twentieth- century philosophy of science, or in historical, sociological, and political approaches to science studies. … I can confirm that the book nicely illustrates Agassi’s optimistic stance on philosophical reflection on the sciences, along with the tolerance and impartiality that characterizes Agassi’s academic writings and life.” (Cristian Soto, Metascience, Vol. 28 (3), November, 2019)

Editors and Affiliations

Communication and Mass Media Department, Sapir College, Shaar Hanegev, Israel

Nimrod Bar-Am
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA

Stefano Gattei

About the editors

Nimrod Bar-Am is a philosopher of science specializing in logic and communication. He is currently a senior lecturer at the communication department, Sapir College. He studies the history of scientific method in general and methodological challenges within the social sciences in particular. His most recent publication is In Search of a Simple Introduction to Communication (Springer 2016). He was Joseph Agassi's research assistant (1993-1998), and published a couple of peer-reviewed papers with him.

Stefano Gattei is a philosopher and historian of science, currently Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow at the University of Edinburgh and Eleanor Searle Visiting Professor in History at the California Institute of Technology. He worked extensively on key issues and authors of contemporary philosophy of science, as well as on the history of early modern astronomy and cosmology. Most recently, he co-edited, with Joseph Agassi, the fourth volume of Paul Feyerabend’s collected philosophical papers: Physics and Philosophy (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015). His Early Biographies of Galileo is forthcoming with Princeton University Press; he is currently working on a book on Johannes Kepler and the role of engraved frontispieces and title-pages in the Scientific Revolution (under contract with Oxford University Press).

Bibliographic Information

Book Title: Encouraging Openness
Book Subtitle: Essays for Joseph Agassi on the Occasion of His 90th Birthday
Editors: Nimrod Bar-Am, Stefano Gattei
Series Title: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57669-5
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing AG 2017
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-57668-8Published: 07 July 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-86220-0Published: 22 August 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-57669-5Published: 22 June 2017
Series ISSN: 0068-0346
Series E-ISSN: 2214-7942
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIV, 584
Number of Illustrations: 17 b/w illustrations
Topics: Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Political Philosophy, Educational Policy and Politics

Editors:

Sections

Buying options

Table of contents (42 chapters)

Front Matter

Reflections on Rationalism as a Tradition and a Choice

Front Matter

The Sceptic Quest for a Sensible World

Front Matter

Making Sense of a Changing Past: History and Historiography

Front Matter

About this book

Keywords

Reviews

Editors and Affiliations

Communication and Mass Media Department, Sapir College, Shaar Hanegev, Israel

California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA

About the editors

Bibliographic Information

Buying options