Abstract
Much philosophy of science is methodology of science. How should one go about doing and evaluating it? The question is one of the methodology of methodology, i.e. of metamethodology. There is a vague thesis common to Descartes and more recent philosophers such as Quine and Lakatos: that what is good methodology, good evidence, good reason for accepting, rejecting or revising beliefs in mathematics and in the sciences properly so called, does not differ in significant kind from what is good methodology, evidence or reason elsewhere, even in epistemology and ethics; and further, that mathematics and the natural sciences provide good paradigms for methodology generally. Following von Hayek,1 I call this form of epistemological and methodological monism: Scientism.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agassi, J. (1963) Towards an Historiography of Science, Beiheft 2 to History and Theory. Reprinted by Wesley an University Press, Middletown, 1967.
Clark, P. (1976) ‘Atomism versus Thermodynamics’ in Howson: 41–105.
Dorling, J. (1979) ‘Bayesian Personalism, the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes, and Duhem’s Problem’, Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science10: 117–87.
Feyerabend, P.K. (1974) Against Method. New Left Books, London.
Feyerabend, P.K. (1978) Science in a Free Society. New Left Books, London; Part One, “Reason and Practice”.
Forder, H.G. (1927) The Foundations of Euclidean Geometry. Dover, New York, 1958.
Forster, M. (1988) ‘Unification, Explanation and the Composition of Causes in Newtonian Mechanics’, Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science 19: 55–101
Fox, J. (1981) ‘Appraising Lakatos’, Australasian Journal of Philosophy 51: 92–103.
Franklin, A. and Howson, C. (1984) ‘Why do Scientists Prefer to Vary their Experiments?’, Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science 15: 51–62
Goodman, N. (1955) Fact, Fiction and Forecast. Harvard University Press, Cambridge Mass.
Grünbaum, A. (1976a) ‘Is Falsifiability the Touchstone of Scientific Rationality?’ in Cohen, Feyerabend & Wartofsky (eds.), Essays in Memory of Imre Lakatos: 213–52.
Grünbaum, A. (1976b) ‘Is the Method of Bold Conjectures and Attempted Refutations Justifiably the Method of Science?’, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 27: 105–136.
Grünbaum, A. (1976c) ‘Ad Hoc Auxiliary Hypotheses and Falsificationism’, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 27: 329–362.
Howson, C. (ed.) (1976) Method and Appraisal in the Physical Sciences. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Jeffrey, R.C. (1975) ‘Probability and Falsification: A Critique of the Popper Programme’, Synthese 30: 95–117; and ‘Replies’, ibid.: 149–57.
Koertge, N. (1976) ‘Rational Reconstructions’ in Cohen, R., Feyerabend, P.K. and Wartofsky, M. (eds.), Essays in Memory of Imre Lakatos: 359–369.
Lakatos, I. (1971) ‘History of Science and its Rational Reconstructions’ in Buck R.C. and Cohen, R.S. (eds.), Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science 8, Reidel, Dordrecht: 91–135. Reprinted in Howson: 1–39 and in Lakatos (1978), Vol I: 102–38.
Lakatos, I. (1976) Proof and Refutations, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1976; Reprinted from (1963–4) ‘Proofs and Refutations’, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 14–15.
Lakatos, I. (1978) Philosophical Papers, 2 Vols, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Lakatos, I. and Zahar, E. (1976) ‘Why Did Copernicus’ Programme Supersede Ptolemy’s?’ in Westman, R. (ed.) The Copernican Achievement: 354–383. Reprinted as ch. 5 of Lakatos (1978) Vol. 1.
Quine, W. (1969) ‘Epistemology Naturalized’ in his Ontological Relativity and Other Essays. Columbia University Press, New York.
Rosencrantz, R. (1977) Inference, Method and Decision. Reidel, Dordrecht; ch. 6, ‘Bayes and Popper’.
Smart, J.J.C. (1972) ‘Science, History and Methodology’, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 23: 266–74
Thomason, N. (1994) ‘The Power of ARCHED Hypotheses: Feyerabend’s Galileo as a Closet Rationalist’, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 35: 255–264
Urbach, P. (1989) ‘The Bayesian Alternative to the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes’ in Gavroglou, K., Goudaroulis, Y. and Nicolacopoulos, P. (eds.), Imre Lakatos and Theories of Scientific Change. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science 111. Klu-wer, Dordrecht.
von Hayek, F. (1955) ‘Scientism and the Study of Society’ in The Counter-Revolution of Science. Free Press, Glencoe, 111.
Whewell, W. (1847) Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, 2 vols., 2nd edn; Reprinted by Johnson Reprint Corp, New York, 1967.
Worrall, J. (1976) ‘Thomas Young and the “Refutation” of Newtonian Optics’ in Howson: 102–179.
Zahar, E. (1973) ‘Why Did Einstein’s Research Programme Supersede Lorentz’s?’, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 28: 195–213. Reprinted in Howson: 211–75.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1996 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Fox, J.F. (1996). Towards Metamethodology: For the History and Philosophy of Science. In: Riggs, P.J. (eds) Natural Kinds, Laws of Nature and Scientific Methodology. Australasian Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, vol 12. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8607-8_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8607-8_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-4750-2
Online ISBN: 978-94-015-8607-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive