Individualism and the Unity of Science: Essays on Reduction, Explanation, and the Special Sciences (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780847686636)

In this original and important book, Harold Kincaid defends a view of the special sciences-all sciences outside physics-as autonomous and nonreducible. He argues that the biological and social sciences provide explanations that cannot be captured by explanations at the level of their constituent parts, and yet that this does not commit us to mysterious, nonphysical entitites like vital forces or group minds. A look at real scientific practice shows that the many different sciences can be unified in a way that leaves them each an autonomous explanatory role. This book will be of great interest to philosophers of science and social scientists.

Author: Harold Kincaid
ISBN-10: 0847686639
ISBN-13: 9780847686636
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Language: English
Published: 09/04/1997
Pages: 172
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.56lbs
Size: 8.96h x 5.87w x 0.50d