Progress and Its Problems: Towards a Theory of

Progress and Its Problems: Towards a Theory of Scientific Growth by Larry Laudan

Progress and Its Problems: Towards a Theory of Scientific Growth Larry Laudan ebook
Format: pdf
Page: 268
ISBN: 0520037219, 9780520037212
Publisher: University of California Press

It is not the raw material used in the formation of practice and theory, it is inevitably the result of it. In other words, you've run up against the limits of our current knowledge; to make any further progress is going to take an innovation that's not yet a part of our scientific lexicon. A format of temporarily constrained energy, retained in temporary constrained genetic energy packages in forms of genes, genomes and organisms 2. And so began the greatest revolution in the history of science. This observational study and literature review aggregate what is known regarding the quantity and quality of terrestrial ecosystems - particularly old-growth and primary forests - necessary to sustain the biosphere. Their refusal to engage on issues of economic injustice and equity blocks progress towards cooperative solutions to environmental and social ills, and lessens the prospects of achieving mid-to-long term global ecological sustainability. As he read, Darwin saw with dawning horror that the author had arrived at the same evolutionary theory he had been working on, without publishing a word, for 20 years. Some references: - Larry Laudan, Progress and its problems: Towards a theory of scientific growth. Most importantly, Laudan implicitly assumes that we can't specify a standard for measuring scientific progress (say, truth) if we have no epistemic access to evidence that would allow evaluation of how far science has progressed towards that standard. I do think Laudan at least makes a good case that the rationality of scientists accepting a theory can be understood in terms of how effective the theory is at solving the problems the scientists are concerned with. Image credit: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory / Paul Preuss / Michael Crommie. The great unsolved problems of your time look like missing puzzle pieces, while the tools, equations and current theories begin to look like misshapen pieces that don't quite fit where they're supposed to.