Copernicus, Darwin, Freud
Revolutions in the History and Philosophy of Science
1. Edition October 2008
296 Pages, Softcover
Biographical Literature
Short Description
This book provides a concise history of Copernicanism, Darwinism, and Freudianism, and offers an introduction to the history and philosophy of science through a problem-situation based approach. It is a study of the interactions between science and philosophy, with emphasis on philosophical presuppositions and consequences, as well as a comparison of several disciplines in the natural and social sciences with respect to their inferential practices. The text ultimately investigates the connections between science and philosophy, to show how science leads to philosophical consequences.
Scientific ideas change the way we think about the world and our place in it. Nicolaus Copernicus developed a heliocentric view of the cosmos that displaced humans from the physical center of the universe. Charles Darwin developed an evolutionary theory that placed humans firmly within the organismic order of nature. It was Sigmund Freud who saw himself as completing this cycle of disparagement by destroying the belief that humans were 'masters in their own house'.
Copernicus, Darwin and Freud: Revolutions in the History and Philosophy of Science deals with issues in the area of intersection between history and philosophy of natural and social science. Using Copernicanism, Darwinism and Freudianism as extended case studies, Friedel Weinert illustrates the profound connections between science and philosophy and shows how scientific theories invariably have philosophical consequences. Philosophical controversies surrounding ideas of human nature, realism and instrumentalism, models and theories, laws of nature and scientific method are all examined within the context of concrete problem situations in the history of science.
Copernicus, Darwin and Freud is an engaging and versatile text suitable for a variety of courses in the history and philosophy of science or for individual study.
I. Nicolaus Copernicus: The Loss of Centrality.
I. 1 Ptolemy and Copernicus.
I. 2 A Clash of two Worldviews.
I. 3 The Heliocentric Worldview.
I. 4 Copernicus was not a Scientific Revolutionary.
I. 5 The Transition to Newton.
I. 6 Some Philosophical Lessons.
I. 7 Copernicus and Scientific Revolutions.
I. 8 The Anthropic Principle: A Reversal of the Copernican Turn?.
II. Charles Darwin: The Loss of Rational Design.
II. 1 Darwin and Copernicus.
II. 2 Views of Organic Life.
II. 3 Fossil Discoveries.
II. 4 Darwin's Revolution.
II. 5 Philosophical Matters.
II. 5.2 From Biology to the Philosophy of Mind.
II. 5. 3 The Loss of Rational Design.
II. 5.4 Intelligent Design.
II. 6 A Question of Method.
II. 6.1 Darwinian Inferences.
II. 6. 2 Philosophical Empiricism.
II. 6. 3 Some Principles of Elimination.
II. 6.4 Essential Features of Eliminative Inductivism.
II. 6.5 Falsifiability or Testability?.
II. 6.6 Explanation and Prediction.
II. 6.6 Some Models of Explanation - Functional Model, Causal Model, Structural Model.
II. 6. 7 A Brief Return to Realism.
II. 6. 8 Darwin and Scientific Revolutions.
II. 6. 8. 1 Philosophical Consequences.
III. Freud: The Loss of Transparency.
III. 1 Copernicus, Darwin and Freud.
III. 2 Some Views of Humankind.
III. 3 Scientism and the Freudian Model of Personality.
III. 4 The Social Sciences beyond Freud.
III. 5 Evolution and the Social Sciences.
III. 6 Freud and Revolutions in Thought.
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