AuthorHintikka, Jaakko. author
TitleInquiry as Inquiry: A Logic of Scientific Discovery [electronic resource] / by Jaakko Hintikka
ImprintDordrecht : Springer Netherlands : Imprint: Springer, 1999
Connect tohttp://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9313-7
Descript XIV, 290 p. online resource

SUMMARY

Is a genuine logic of scientific discovery possible? In the essays collected here, Hintikka not only defends an affirmative answer; he also outlines such a logic. It is the logic of questions and answers. Thus inquiry in the sense of knowledge-seeking becomes inquiry in the sense of interrogation. Using this new logic, Hintikka establishes a result that will undoubtedly be considered the fundamental theorem of all epistemology, viz., the virtual identity of optimal strategies of pure discovery with optimal deductive strategies. Questions to Nature, of course, must include observations and experiments. Hintikka shows, in fact, how the logic of experimental inquiry can be understood from the interrogative vantage point. Other important topics examined include induction (in a forgotten sense that has nevertheless played a role in science), explanation, the incommensurability of theories, theory-ladenness of observations, and identifiability


CONTENT

1. โIs Logic the Key to all Good Reasoning?โ -- 2. โThe Role of Logic in Argumentationโ -- 3. โInterrogative Logic as a General Theory of Reasoningโ -- 4. โWhat Is Abduction? The Fundamental Problem of Contemporary Epistemologyโ -- 5. โTrue and False Logics of Scientific Discoveryโ -- 6. โA Spectrum of Logic of Questioningโ -- 7. โWhat Is the Logic of Experimental Inquiry?โ -- 8. โThe Concept of Induction in the Light of the Interrogative Approach to Inquiryโ -- 9. โSemantics and Pragmatics for Why-Questionsโ -- 10. โThe Varieties of Information and Scientific Explanationโ -- 11. โOn the Incommensurability of Theoriesโ -- 12. โTheory-Ladenness of Observations as a Test Case of Kuhnโs Approach to Scientific Inquiryโ -- 13. โRamsey Sentences and the Meaning of Quantifiersโ -- 14. โTowards a General Theory of Identifiabilityโ


SUBJECT

  1. Philosophy
  2. History
  3. Epistemology
  4. Logic
  5. Philosophy and science
  6. Philosophy
  7. Philosophy of Science
  8. History
  9. general
  10. Logic
  11. Epistemology