Scientific Method
Subtitle: A Historical and Philosophical Introduction
Publisher: Routledge
Published: December 19, 1996
Language: eng
Number of pages: 288
ISBN-13: 9780415122818
First sentence: We  have  increasingly powerful  reasons for acquiring some  understanding of the natural sciences.
Description: The results, conclusions and claims of natural science are often taken to be reliable because they arise from the use of a distinctive method. Yet today, there is widespread scepticism as to whether we can validly talk of method in modern science. This outstanding new survey explains how this controversy has developed since the seventeenth century and explores its philosophical basis.

Questions of scientific method are discussed through key figures such as Galileo, Bacon, Newton, Bayes, Mill, Poincare, Duhem, Popper, and Carnap. The concluding chapters contain stimulating discussions of attacks on the idea of scientific method by key figures such as Kuhn, Lakatos, and Feyerabend. Essential reading for students of the history and philosophy of science. Scientific Method will also appeal to anyone with an interest in what philosophers say about science.