Theory and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science Audiobook (Free)

How does research work? Does it tell us the actual world is normally ‘really’ like? What makes it different from other ways of understanding the world? THEORETICALLY and Reality, Peter Godfrey-Smith addresses these questions by taking the listener on the grand tour of one hundred years of controversy about technology. The result is definitely a completely available introduction to the primary themes from the philosophy of science.

Designed for undergraduates and general audiences without prior background in philosophy, Theory and Reality addresses logical positivism; the issues of induction and verification; Karl Popper’s theory of technology; Thomas Kuhn and ‘scientific revolutions’; the sights of Imre Lakatos, Larry Laudan, and Paul Feyerabend; and challenges to the field from sociology of technology, feminism, and technology studies. The reserve then looks in more detail at some specific problems and ideas, including scientific realism, the theory-ladeness of observation, technological description, and Bayesianism. Finally, Godfrey-Smith defends a form of philosophical naturalism as the ultimate way to solve the main complications in the field.