Inference Belief and Interpretation in Science

Name: Inference Belief and Interpretation in Science
Rating: 5 (1 reviews)

Avijit Lahiri

Sep 2023 · LAHIRI-Philosophy Book 1 · Avijit Lahiri

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Ebook

252

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About this ebook

The book is an engaging discourse on a number of interesting and deep issues relating to how Science inquires into Nature. It constitutes a critique of the received view that objectivity and logic are the cornerstones of science, and emphasises the role of inductive inference, of which an essential feature is that, compared to its deductive counterpart, the correspondence between evidence and conclusion is not unique, and that it entails a fundamental element of choice or decision. Induction takes place in the mind of the individual and also in the collective mental process of a scientific community. More precisely, the process of inductive inference is essentially dependent on beliefs, tied to affect and emotions, mostly playing their role in a substratum of conscious, deductive activity. In this the scientific process, which involves induction and deduction in complementary roles, is seen to have deeply cognitive roots.

Building around this basic perception and drawing from diverse current trends of research, the book adopts a naturalist approach to pose a critique of a widespread but naive version of scientific realism.

The presentation is lucid, informal, and witty, mainly addressed to general readers, though the discourse is at once deep, intriguing and provoking wherein it will prove to be of value to specialists in the areas of philosophy of science and cognitive science.

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5.0

1 review

About the author

Avijit Lahiri is a renowned teacher and researcher in physics, and is now engaged principally in the writing of books and essays on the philosophy of science and philosophy of the mind. His current interests include foundations of quantum theory, quantum chaos and statistical mechanics, and cognitive psychology.

Lahiri has published on a wide range of topics in theoretical and mathematical physics in international peer reviewed journals and also a number of of textbooks and reference books, all of which have been uniformly appreciated by students and teachers in the respective subject areas. He is also the sole author of numerous essays and monographs on topics in philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, and cognitive psychology. His current interests include foundations of quantum theory, quantum chaos and statistical mechanics, complexity theory, psychology of belief, and scientific realism.

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