Klappentext

For a decade, we have admired the incisive and broadly informed works of Ladislav Tondl on the foundations of science. Now it is indeed a pleasure to include this book among the Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science. We hope that it will help to deepen the collaborative scholar­ ship of scientists and philosophers in Czechoslovakia with the English­ reading scholars of the world. Professor Ladislav Tondl was born in 1924, and completed his higher education at the Charles University iIi Prague. His doctorate was granted by the Institute of Information Theory and Automation. He was a professor and scientific research worker at the Institute for the Theory and Methodology of Science, which was a component part of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. Tondl's principal fields of interest are the methodology of the empirical and experimental sciences, logical semantics, and cybernetics. For many years, he collaborated with Professor Albert Perez and others at the Institute of Information Theory and Automation in Prague, and he has undertaken fruitful collaboration with logicians in the Soviet and Polish schools, and been influenced by the Finnish logicians as well, among them Jaakko Hintikka. We list below a selection of his main publications. Perhaps the most accessible in presenting his central conception of the relationship between modem information theory and the methodology of the sciences is his 1965 paper with Perez, 'On the Role of Information Theory in Certain Scientific Procedures'.

Inhalt

I. The Concept of 'Science' as Cognitive Activity.- 1. Aspects of the Concept of Science.- 2. The Goals of Science as Cognitive Activity sui generis.- 3. Scientific Cognition as the Solution of Problems.- II. On the Approach to Models of Scientific Procedures.- 1. Scientific Procedures as Operations with Data.- 2. The Metatheoretical Character of the Analysis of Scientific Procedures.- 3. The Finitistic Approach.- III. The Empirical Basis and the Analysis of 'Universe of Discourse'.- 1. Schemata of the Analysis.- (a) External Specification of the Universe.- (b) Internal Analysis of the Universe.- 2. The Communication Model and the Problem of Scientific Empiricism.- (a) The Communication Model of Cognitive Activity.- (b) The Communication Model and the Problem of Semantic Analysis.- (c) The Problem of Levels.- (d) The Communication Model and the Concept of 'Experience'.- 3. The Universe and the Language Used.- (a) The Entities of the Universe.- (b) The Language Devices Used.- IV. Concepts of The Language of Science.- 1. Names, Descriptions and Statements.- (a) Singular and Divided Reference.- (b) Proper Names and Descriptions.- (c) Singular and General Statements.- 2. Predicates.- (a) The Linguistic Form of Predicates.- (b) Interpretations of Predicates.- (c) A Criticism of the Nominalistic Interpretation of Predicates.- (d) 'Primary' and 'Secondary' Qualities.- 3. The Classification of Predicates in the Language of Science: Qualitative, Comparative and Quantitative Predicates.- (a) Qualitative Predicates.- (b) Comparative Predicates.- (c) Quantitative Predicates.- 4. The Classification of Predicates: Empirical, Dispositional and Theoretical Predicates.- (a) Empirical and Dispositional Predicates.- (b) Theoretical Predicates.- 5. Similarity and Identification of Objects.- (a) Semantic Background.- (b) The Finitistic Conception of Identification.- (c) Similarity of Objects.- (d) The Problems of Reduction in Identification Procedures.- V. Scientific Explanation.- 1. Problem-Solving Situations and Questions in Science.- (a) The Concept of 'Problem-Solving Situation' and the Role of Questions in Problem-Solving Situations.- (b) Problem-Solving Situations Based on Whether-Questions.- (c) Problem-Solving Situations Based on Which-Questions.- (d) Why-Questions and the Problem of Scientific Explanation.- 2. The Concepts of 'Explanation' and 'Scientific Explanation'.- (a) Requirements Imposed on Explanation.- (b) Scientific Explanation and Description.- (c) The Most Important Kinds of Explanation.- 3. The Typology of Scientific Explanation.- (a) The Commonest Typologies.- (b) Classificational Criteria of the Typology of Scientific Explanation.- (c) Classification Based on the Nature of the Explanandum.- (d) Classification Based on the Nature of Laws.- (e) Classification Based on the Relations Between Explanandum and Explanans.- (f) Classification from the Viewpoint of Pragmatic Requirements.- 4. Scientific Laws and Their Evaluation.- (a) Laws: General Statement or Rules of Inference? A Criticism of Instrumentalism.- (b) Scientific Laws and Accidental Generalizations.- (c) The Measure of Explanatory and Predictive Power as a Criterion of Qualification of Scientific Laws.- 5. Scientific Explanation and Decision-Making.- (a) Deductive Models of Scientific Explanation.- (b) Statistical Models of Scientific Explanation.- (c) The Decision Model.- 6. Explanation and Prediction.- (a) The Scientific Basis of Prognostic Statements and the Thesis of the Structural Identity of Explanation and Prediction.- (b) Prognostic Statements and Problems of the Time Factor.- (c) Justified Prognostic Statements and Their Evaluation.