Special Sciences and the Unity of Science

Description

Science is a dynamic process in which the assimilation of new phenomena, perspectives, and hypotheses into the scientific corpus takes place slowly. The apparent disunity of the sciences is the unavoidable consequence of this gradual integration process. Some thinkers label this dynamical circumstance a ‘crisis’. However, a retrospective view of the practical results of the scientific enterprise and of science itself, grants us a clear view of the unity of the human knowledge seeking enterprise. This book provides many arguments, case studies and examples in favor of the unity of science. These contributions touch upon various scientific perspectives and disciplines such as: Physics, Computer Science, Biology, Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology, and Economics. Front Matter....Pages i-vi Introduction....Pages 1-3 Pragmatic Continuities in Empirical Science: Some Examples from the History of Astronomy....Pages 5-18 The Principle of Eurhythmy: A Key to the Unity of Physics....Pages 19-51 Unifying Science Through Computation: Reflections on Computability and Physics....Pages 53-80 Looking at Water Through Paradigms....Pages 81-87 Introducing Universal Symbiogenesis....Pages 89-111 The Symbiotic Phenomenon in the Evolutive Context....Pages 113-119 Plant Neurobiology: Lessons for the Unity of Science....Pages 121-136 Computer Science Meets Evolutionary Biology: Pure Possible Processes and the Issue of Gradualism....Pages 137-162 Evolutionary Psychology and the Unity of Sciences: Towards an Evolutionary Epistemology....Pages 163-175 Unity of Science and Pluralism: Cognitive Neurosciences of Racial Prejudice as a Case Study....Pages 177-204 Sciences as Open Systems – The Case of Economics....Pages 205-217 Plurality of Science and Rational Integration of Knowledge....Pages 219-231 A Physicalist Reconstruction of a Theory: The Case of the Freudian Theory of Hysteria....Pages 233-257 The Cultural Sciences and Their Basis in Life. On Ernst Cassirer’s Theory of the Cultural Sciences....Pages 259-267 Appearance or Existence of the Entity Realism ‘Sense’ or Mind....Pages 269-276 Fiction, Counterfactuals: The Challenge for Logic....Pages 277-299