Essays in Memory of Imre Lakatos

The death of Imre Lakatos on February 2, 1974 was a personal and philosophical loss to the worldwide circle of his friends, colleagues and students. This volume reflects the range of his interests in mathematics, logic, politics and especially in the history and methodology of the sciences. Indeed, Lakatos was a man in search of rationality in all of its forms. He thought he had found it in the historical development of scientific knowledge, yet he also saw rationality endangered everywhere. To honor Lakatos is to honor his sharp and aggressive criticism as well as his humane warmth and his quick wit. He was a person to love and to struggle with. PAUL K. FEYERABEND ROBERT S. COHEN MARX W. WARTOFSKY TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface VII JOHN WORRALL / Imre Lakatos (1922-1974): Philosopher of Mathematics and Philosopher of Science JOSEPH AGASSI / The Lakatosian Revolution 9 23 D. M. ARMSTRONG / Immediate Perception w. W. BAR TLEY, III/On Imre Lakatos 37 WILLIAM BERKSON / Lakatos One and Lakatos Two: An Appreciation 39 I. B. COHEN / William Whewell and the Concept of Scientific Revolution 55 L. JONATHAN COHEN / How Can One Testimony Corroborate Another? 65 R. S. COHEN / Constraints on Science 79 GENE D'AMOUR/ Research Programs, Rationality, and Ethics 87 YEHUDA ELKANA / Introduction: Culture, Cultural System and Science 99 PA UL K.

Inhalt

Imre Lakatos (1922-1974): Philosopher of Mathematics and Philosopher of Science.- The Lakatosian Revolution.- Immediate Perception.- On Imre Lakatos.- Lakatos One and Lakatos Two: An ppreciation.- William Whewell and the Concept of Scientific Revolution.- How Can One Testimony Corroborate Another?.- Constraints on Science.- Research Programs, Rationality, and Ethics.- Introduction: Culture, Cultural System and Science.- On the Critique of Scientific Reason.- The Young Einstein and The Old Einstein.- An Ethic of Cognition.- Instrumentalism and Its Critique: A Reappraisal.- Imre Lakatos: Some Recollections.- Is Falsifiability the Touchstone of Scientific Rationality? Karl Popper versus Inductivism.- Ancient Geometrical Analysis and Modern Logic.- The Development of Logical Probability.- Descartes' Rules of Impact and Their Criticism. An Example of the Structure of Processes in the History of Science.- Toulmin and the Rationality of Science.- Participation, 'Authenticity' and the Contemporary Vision of Man, Law and Society.- Rational Reconstructions.- A Paradox for the Birds.- Mathematics as a Critical Enterprise.- The Fertility of Theory and the Unit for Appraisal in Science.- The Ambivalence of Scientists.- Method or Madness?.- Novel Predictions as a Criterion of Merit.- Whither Physical Objects?.- Popperian Philosophy of Science as an Antidote Against Relativism.- Conditions of Progress and the Comparability of Theories.- Comments on Two Epistemological Theses of Thomas Kuhn.- Leibniz's Program for the Development of Logic.- On Compton's Research Program.- Inquiring Systems and Paradigms.- History, Praxis and the Third World'. Ambiguities in Lakatos' Theory of Methodology.- Against Some Methods.- The Human Condition: Two Criticisms of Hobbes.- The Relation Between Philosophy of Science and History of Science.- Cosmology and Logic - An Intractable Issue?.- Index of Names.