The evolution of scientific knowledge : from certainty to uncertainty / Edward R. Dougherty

By:

Dougherty, Edward R, 1945- [VerfasserIn]

Contributor(s):

Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers [Verlag]

Resource type: Ressourcentyp: Buch (Online)Book (Online)Language: English Series: SPIE press monograph ; PM 275Publisher: Bellingham, Washington (1000 20th St. Bellingham WA 98225-6705 USA) : SPIE, [2016]Copyright date: © 2016Description: 1 Online-RessourceISBN:

9781510607361
1510607366
9781510607354
1510607358

Subject(s):

Additional physical formats: 9781510607354 | Erscheint auch als: No title Druck-AusgabeDDC classification:

501 23

LOC classification:

Q175

DOI: DOI: 10.1117/3.2263362Online resources:

Zugang im Netz des KIT

Additional physical formats: Also available in print version.Summary: "This book aims to provide scientists and engineers, and those interested in scientific issues, with a concise account of how the nature of scientific knowledge evolved from antiquity to a seemingly final form in the Twentieth Century that now strongly limits the knowledge that people would like to gain in the Twenty-first Century. Some might think that such issues are only of interest to specialists in epistemology (the theory of knowledge); however, today's major scientific and engineering problems--in biology, medicine, environmental science, etc.--involve enormous complexity, and it is precisely this complexity that runs up against the limits of what is scientifically knowable. To understand the issue, one must appreciate the radical break with antiquity that occurred with the birth of modern science in the Seventeenth Century, the problems of knowledge and truth engendered by modern science, and the evolution of scientific thinking through the Twentieth Century. While originally aimed at practicing scientists and engineers, it is my hope that this book can provide a generally educated person with a basic understanding of how our perspective on scientific knowledge has evolved over the centuries to escape pre-Galilean commonsense thinking. Such an appreciation is not only beneficial for one's general education, but is important for non-scientists who must teach young students or make policy decisions in government or business"--Summary: Acknowledgments -- Preface -- Introduction: Challenging times: Evolution of Galilean–Newtonian scientific thinking; A radical shift in the narrative -- Chapter 1. Why epistemology? 1.1. The desire to know; 1.2. What is epistemology? 1.3. Modern science; 1.4. The crisis of complexity -- Chapter 2. Pre-Galilean science: 2.1. Deep roots; 2.2. Aristotle: causality as the ground of knowledge; 2.3. Evolution and the argument from design; 2.4. The fall and rise of reason; 2.5. Copernicus moves man from the center of the universe -- Chapter 3. The birth of modern science: 3.1. The seventeenth century; 3.2. Francis Bacon: empirical method; 3.3. Galileo: the birth of modern science -- Chapter 4. Reflections on the new science: 4.1. Critique of knowledge; 4.2. John Locke: the mind as white paper; 4.3. George Berkeley: esse est percipi; 4.4. David Hume: reason is humbled; 4.5. Immanuel Kant: critique of reason; 4.6. Jean-Jacques Rousseau: no to science; 4.7. Mill: metaphysics through the back door; 4.8. Bertrand Russell: causality, a relic of a bygone age; 4.9. James Clerk Maxwell: hoping for an intelligible theory -- Chapter 5. A mathematical–observational duality: 5.1. The end of intelligibility; 5.2. Quantum mechanics; 5.3. Epistemological reflections on quantum theory; 5.4. The structure of scientific knowledge; 5.5. Scientific "truth"; 5.6. A new role for reason; 5.7. Deterministic or stochastic models? --Summary: Chapter 6. Complex systems: a new epistemological crisis: 6.1. The twenty-first century: starved for data; 6.2. Gene regulatory networks; 6.3. Validation of complex systems; 6.4. Model uncertainty; 6.5. Data mining; 6.6. Limitations of science -- Chapter 7. Translational science under uncertainty: 7.1. Translational science; 7.2. Anatomy of translational science; 7.3. Operator design in the presence of model uncertainty; 7.4. Pattern classification; 7.5. Posterior distribution; 7.6. Translational science under model uncertainty; 7.7. Objective cost of uncertainty; 7.8. Small-data epistemology -- ReferencesPPN: PPN: 1018191143Package identifier: Produktsigel: ZDB-50-SPI

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