Explanation in the Sciences

Emile Meyerson's writings on the philosophy of science are a rich source of ideas and information concerning many philosophical and historical aspects of the development of modem science. Meyerson's works are not widely read or cited today by philosophers or even philosophers of science, in part because they have long been out of print and are often not available even in research libraries. There are additional chevaux de !rise for all but the hardiest scholars: Meyerson's books are written in French (and do not all exist in English versions) and deal with the subject matter of science - ideas or concepts, laws or principles, theories - and epis temological questions rather than today's more fashionable topics of the social matrix and external influences on science with the concomitant neglect of the intellectual content of science. Born in Lublin, Poland, in 1859, Meyerson received most of his education in Germany, where he studied from the age of 12 to 23, preparing himself for a career in chemistry. ! He moved to Paris in 1882, where he began a career as an industrial chemist. Changing his profession, he then worked for a time as the foreign news editor of the HAVAS News Agency in Paris. In 1898 he joined the agency established by Edmond Rothschild that had as its purpose the settling of Jews in Palestine and became the Director of the Jewish Colonization Association for Europe and Asia Minor. These activities represent Meyerson's formal career.

Inhalt
Book One The Two Fundamental Observations.- 1. Science Demands the Concept of Thing.- 2. Science Seeks Explanation.- Book Two The Explanatory Process.- 3. Deduction.- 4. Rationality Postulated.- 5. Identity and Identification.- 6. The Irrational.- 7. Biological Phenomena.- 8. Forms of Spatial Explanation.- 9. The Possibilities of Scientific Explanation.- 10. The State of Potentiality.- Book Three Global Explanation.- 11. Hegel's Attempt.- 12. Schelling's Objections.- 13. Hegel and Comte.- 14. Hegel, Descartes and Kant.- Book Four Scientific and Philosophic Reason.- 15. Science and Philosophic Systems.- 16. The Rationality of the Real Reconsidered.- 17. The Epistemological Paradox.- 18. The Oneness of Human Reason.- Appendices.- 1 The Precursors of Hume.- 2 The Resistance to Lavoisier's Theory.- 3 The Formula of the Universe in Laplace and in Taine.- 4 Arrhenius's Theory and Other Such Efforts.- 5 Hegel's Political Attitude.- 6 The Prestige and the Decline of Hegelian Philosophy.- 7 Abstract and Concrete Reason in Hegel.- 8 Hegel's Panlogism.- 10 The Philosophy of Nature and Scientific Progress.- 11 Hegel, Schelling and Chemical Theory.- 12 Hegel and National Science.- 13 Hegel's Artistic Sense and Sense of Rhythm.- 14 The Hegelian Dialectic and Experience.- 15 Schelling, Hegel and Victor Cousin.- 16 The Identity of Thought and Reality in Schelling.- 17 Schelling's Announced Works.- 18 Caroline Schelling.- 19 Personal Relations Between Schelling and 20 Hegel.- 20 Tycho Brahe, Astrology and the Motion of the Earth.- 21 Non-Euclidean Space and Physical Verification.- Index of Names.