Works by Philip Kitcher
244 found
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| Philip Kitcher [254] | Philip S. Kitcher [2] | Philip Stuart Kitcher [1] |
- The advancement of science: science without legend, objectivity without illusions.Philip Kitcher -1993 - New York: Oxford University Press.During the last three decades, reflections on the growth of scientific knowledge have inspired historians, sociologists, and some philosophers to contend that scientific objectivity is a myth. In this book, Kitcher attempts to resurrect the notions of objectivity and progress in science by identifying both the limitations of idealized treatments of growth of knowledge and the overreactions to philosophical idealizations. Recognizing that science is done not by logically omniscient subjects working in isolation, but by people with a variety of personal (...) and social interests, who cooperate and compete with one another, he argues that, nonetheless, we may conceive the growth of science as a process in which both our vision of nature and our ways of learning more about nature improve. Offering a detailed picture of the advancement of science, he sets a new agenda for the philosophy of science and for other "science studies" disciplines. (shrink)
- Science, truth, and democracy.Philip Kitcher -2001 - New York: Oxford University Press.Striving to boldly redirect the philosophy of science, this book by renowned philosopher Philip Kitcher examines the heated debate surrounding the role of science in shaping our lives. Kitcher explores the sharp divide between those who believe that the pursuit of scientific knowledge is always valuable and necessary--the purists--and those who believe that it invariably serves the interests of people in positions of power. In a daring turn, he rejects both perspectives, working out a more realistic image of the sciences--one (...) that allows for the possibility of scientific truth, but nonetheless permits social consensus to determine which avenues to investigate. He then proposes a democratic and deliberative framework for responsible scientists to follow. Controversial, powerful, yet engaging, this volume will appeal to a wide range of readers. Kitcher's nuanced analysis and authorititative conclusion will interest countless scientists as well as all readers of science--scholars and laypersons alike. (shrink)
- The ethical project.Philip Kitcher -2011 - Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Instead of conceiving ethical commands as divine revelations or as the discoveries of brilliant thinkers, we should see our ethical practices as evolving over tens of thousands of years, as members of our species have worked out how to live together and prosper. Here, Kitcher elaborates his radical vision of this millennia-long ethical project.
- The nature of mathematical knowledge.Philip Kitcher -1983 - Oxford: Oxford University Press.This book argues against the view that mathematical knowledge is a priori,contending that mathematics is an empirical science and develops historically,just as ...
- Explanatory unification.Philip Kitcher -1981 -Philosophy of Science 48 (4):507-531.The official model of explanation proposed by the logical empiricists, the covering law model, is subject to familiar objections. The goal of the present paper is to explore an unofficial view of explanation which logical empiricists have sometimes suggested, the view of explanation as unification. I try to show that this view can be developed so as to provide insight into major episodes in the history of science, and that it can overcome some of the most serious difficulties besetting the (...) covering law model. (shrink)
- Science in a democratic society.Philip Kitcher -2011 - Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books.Claims that science should be more democratic than it is frequently arouse opposition. In this essay, I distinguish my own views about the democratization of science from the more ambitious theses defended by Paul Feyerabend. I argue that it is unlikely that the complexity of some scientific debates will allow for resolution according to the methodological principles of any formal confirmation theory, suggesting instead that major revolutions rest on conflicts of values. Yet these conflicts should not be dismissed as irresoluble.
- Explanatory unification and the causal structure of the world.Philip Kitcher -1962 - In Philip Kitcher & Wesley C. Salmon,Scientific Explanation. Univ of Minnesota Pr. pp. 410-505.
- The division of cognitive labor.Philip Kitcher -1990 -Journal of Philosophy 87 (1):5-22.
- Moral Progress.Philip Kitcher,Jan-Christoph Heilinger,Rahel Jaeggi &Susan Neiman -2021 - New York: Oxford University Press. Edited by Jan-Christoph Heilinger."The overall aim of this book is to understand the character of moral progress, so that making moral progress may become more systematic and secure, less chancy and less bloody. Drawing on three historical examples - the abolition of chattel slavery, the expansion of opportunities for women, and the increasing acceptance of same-sex love - it asks how those changes were brought about, and seeks a methodology for streamlining the kinds of developments that occurred. Moral progress is conceived as pragmatic (...) progress, progress from rather than progress to, achieved by overcoming the problems and limits of the current situation. Two kinds of problems are distinguished: problems of exclusion, found when the complaints of some people are ignored; and problems of false consciousness, present when the oppressed adopt judgments from the ambient society and do not protest their condition. The proposed methodology advocates procedures for listening to voiced complaints and for systematically reviewing the way in which particular self-conceptions, ideals and identities are taken to be appropriate for various groups of people. Through outlining a picture of moral practice, at both the individual and the societal levels, the book seeks to orient moral philosophy away from metaethical questions of realism and towards moral methodology"--. (shrink)
- 1953 and all that. A tale of two sciences.Philip Kitcher -1984 -Philosophical Review 93 (3):335-373.
- The naturalists return.Philip Kitcher -1992 -Philosophical Review 101 (1):53-114.This article reviews the transition between post-Fregean anti-naturalistic epistemology and contemporary naturalistic epistemologies. It traces the revival of naturalism to Quine’s critique of the "a priori", and Kuhn’s defense of historicism, and use the arguments of Quine and Kuhn to identify a position, "traditional naturalism", that combines naturalistic themes with the claim that epistemology is a normative enterprise. Pleas for more radical versions of naturalism are articulated, and briefly confronted.No categories
- Science in a Democratic Society.Philip Kitcher -2011 -Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities 101:95-112.Claims that science should be more democratic than it is frequently arouse opposition. In this essay, I distinguish my own views about the democratization of science from the more ambitious theses defended by Paul Feyerabend. I argue that it is unlikely that the complexity of some scientific debates will allow for resolution according to the methodological principles of any formal confirmation theory, suggesting instead that major revolutions rest on conflicts of values. Yet these conflicts should not be dismissed as irresoluble.
- The Dialectical Biologist.Philip Kitcher,Richard Levins &Richard Lewontin -1989 -Philosophical Review 98 (2):262.No categories
- Scientific Explanation.Philip Kitcher &Wesley C. Salmon (eds.) -1962 - Univ of Minnesota Pr.Studdert-Kennedy, Gerald, Evidence and Explanation in Social Science. ... Kauffman, Stuart, "Articulation of Parts Explanation in Biology and the Rational ...
- The Return of the Gene.Kim Sterelny &Philip Kitcher -1988 -Journal of Philosophy 85 (7):339.
- (2 other versions)The Advancement of Science: Science without Legend, Objectivity without Illusions.Philip Kitcher -1994 -British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 45 (3):929-932.
- The Main Enterprise of the World: Rethinking Education.Philip Kitcher -2021 - New York: Oxford University Press.Introduction -- Part 1. Overload -- Individuality -- Fulfillment -- Citizens -- Moral Development -- A Role for Religion? -- Part 2. The Natural Sciences -- The Arts -- Understanding Ourselves -- Part 3. Social Change -- Utopia?
- Function and Design.Philip Kitcher -1993 -Midwest Studies in Philosophy 18 (1):379-397.
- Real Realism: The Galilean Strategy.Philip Kitcher -2001 -Philosophical Review 110 (2):151.There are almost as many versions of realism as there are antirealists, each ready to supply a preferred characterization before undertaking demolition. Even in the case of scientific realism, my topic here, I recognize two major antirealist themes.
- Theories, theorists and theoretical change.Philip Kitcher -1978 -Philosophical Review 87 (4):519-547.
- Minnesota studies in the philosophy of science Vol. XIII: Scientific Explanation.Philip Kitcher &Wesley C. Salmon (eds.) -1989 - MINNEAPOLIS: UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS.
- Primates and Philosophers. How Morality Evolved.Frans de Waal,Stephen Macedo,Josiah Ober,Robert Wright,Christine M. Korsgaard &Philip Kitcher -2007 -Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie 69 (3):598-599.No categories
- Preludes to Pragmatism: Toward a Reconstruction of Philosophy.Philip Kitcher -2012 - New York, US: Oup Usa.In these essays, distinguished philosopher Philip Kitcher argues for a reconstruction of philosophy along the lines of classical Pragmatism.
- (1 other version)Species.Philip Kitcher -1982 -Journal of Philosophy 79 (11):721-722.
- Genes.Philip Kitcher -1982 -British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 33 (4):337-359.
- Well‐Ordered Science.Philip Kitcher -2001 - InScience, truth, and democracy. New York: Oxford University Press.The question is answered by introducing an ideal, the ideal of well‐ordered science In well‐ordered science the inquiries pursued are those that would have been selected by a well‐informed group of deliberators dedicated to working cooperatively with one another. Well‐ordered science is contrasted with vulgar democracy and with elitism. The chapter suggests various ways in which our current practice of the sciences falls short of the ideal.No categories
- (1 other version)Vaulting Ambition.Philip Kitcher -1988 -Noûs 22 (3):479-482.No categories
- Explanation, conjunction, and unification.Philip Kitcher -1976 -Journal of Philosophy 73 (8):207-212.
- Abusing Science--The Case against Creationism.Philip Kitcher -1985 -British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 36 (1):85-89.
- Van Fraassen on Explanation.Philip Kitcher &Wesley Salmon -1987 -Journal of Philosophy 84 (6):315.
- Précis ofVaulting Ambition: Sociobiology and the Quest for Human Nature.Philip Kitcher -1987 -Behavioral and Brain Sciences 10 (1):61-71.The debate about the credentials of sociobiology has persisted because scholars have failed to distinguish the varieties of sociobiology and because too little attention has been paid to the details of the arguments that are supposed to support the provocative claims about human social behavior. I seek to remedy both deficiencies. After analysis of the relationships among different kinds of sociobiology and contemporary evolutionary theory, I attempt to show how some of the studies of the behavior of nonhuman animals meet (...) the methodological standards appropriate to evolutionary research. I contend that the efforts of E. O. Wilson, Richard Alexander, Charles Lumsden, and others to generate conclusions about human nature are flawed, both because they apply evolutionary ideas in an unrigorous fashion and because they use dubious assumptions to connect their evolutionary analyses with their conclusions. This contention rests on analyses of many of the major sociobiological proposals about human social behavior, including: differences in sex roles, racial hostility, homosexuality, conflict between parents and adolescent offspring, incest avoidance, the avunculate, alliances in combat, female infanticide, and gene–culture coevolution.Vaulting Ambitionthus seeks to identify what is good in sociobiology, to expose the errors of premature speculations about human nature, and to prepare the way for serious study of the evolution of human social behavior. (shrink)
- Biology and ethics.Philip Kitcher -2006 - In David Copp,The Oxford handbook of ethical theory. New York: Oxford University Press.This chapter outlines three programs that aim to use biological insights in support of philosophical positions in ethics: Aristotelian approaches found, for example, in Thomas Hurka and Philippa Foot; Humean approaches found in Simon Blackburn and Allan Gibbard; and biologically grounded approaches found in of Elliott Sober and Brian Skyrms. The first two approaches begin with a philosophical view, and seek support for it in biology. The third approach begins with biology, and uses it to illuminate the status of morality. (...) This chapter pursues a version of the third program. A major accomplishment of evolutionary biology has been the explanation of biological altruism, which opens the door to a similar explanation of psychological altruism, or “fellow-feeling.” The chapter conjectures that humans have evolved a capacity for normative governance by socially shared rules. A process of cultural evolution led to the social rules with which we are familiar. This genealogical story poses a challenge, for the idea of moral truth plays no role in it. The story therefore lends support to non-cognitivism or anti-realist expressivism. The chapter concludes by exploring the implications of the genealogical story for moral knowledge, moral objectivity, and the idea of moral authority. (shrink)
- Philosophy inside out.Philip Kitcher -2011 -Metaphilosophy 42 (3):248-260.Abstract: Philosophy is often conceived in the Anglophone world today as a subject that focuses on questions in particular “core areas,” pre-eminently epistemology and metaphysics. This article argues that the contemporary conception is a new version of the scholastic “self-indulgence for the few” of which Dewey complained nearly a century ago. Philosophical questions evolve, and a first task for philosophers is to address issues that arise for their own times. The article suggests that a renewal of philosophy today should turn (...) the contemporary conception inside out, attending to and developing further the valuable work being done on the supposed “periphery” and attending to the “core areas” only insofar as is necessary to address genuinely significant questions. (shrink)
- The Main Enterprise of the World: Rethinking Education.Philip Kitcher -2024 -Analysis 84 (3):597-599.No categories
- Refining the causal theory of reference for natural kind terms.P. Kyle Stanford &Philip Kitcher -2000 -Philosophical Studies 97 (1):97-127.
- Real Realism: The Galilean Strategy.Philip Kitcher -2012 -Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities 101:193-239.This essay aims to disentangle various types of anti-realism, and to disarm the considerations that are deployed to support them. I distinguish empiricist versions of anti-realism from constructivist versions, and, within each of these, semantic arguments from epistemological arguments. The centerpiece of my defense of a modest version of realism - real realism - is the thought that there are resources within our ordinary ways of talking about and knowing about everyday objects that enable us to extend our claims to (...) unobservable entities. This strategy, the Galilean strategy, is explained using the historical example of the telescope. (shrink)
- Living with Darwin: Evolution, Design, and the Future of Faith.Philip Kitcher -2007 - Oup Usa.In this short, elegant book, Philip Kitcher distills the case for Darwinian evolutionary theory and its implications in a clear and forceful way. Kitcher shows how the alleged rivals to Darwinism, like Intelligent Design, are essentially scientifically bankrupt - and that scientific discoveries, including Darwin's, pose a genuine problem for religious faith, one that neither Darwin's opponents nor his militant defenders have satisfactorily resolved.
- (1 other version)A priori knowledge.Philip Kitcher -1980 -Philosophical Review 89 (1):3-23.
- (1 other version)Vaulting Ambition: Sociobiology and the Quest for Human Nature.Philip Kitcher -1987 -Synthese 73 (2):399-405.No categories
- Does 'race' have a future?Philip Kitcher -2007 -Philosophy and Public Affairs 35 (4):293–317.
- The Poverty of Pluralism: A Reply to Sterelny and Kitcher.Philip Kitcher,Kim Sterelny &C. Kenneth Waters -1990 -Journal of Philosophy 87 (3):151-158.
- History and Philosophy of Modern Mathematics.William Aspray &Philip Kitcher -1988 - U of Minnesota Press.History and Philosophy of Modern Mathematics was first published in 1988. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. The fourteen essays in this volume build on the pioneering effort of Garrett Birkhoff, professor of mathematics at Harvard University, who in 1974 organized a conference of mathematicians and historians of modern mathematics to examine how the two disciplines approach the history of mathematics. In (...) History and Philosophy of Modern Mathematics, William Aspray and Philip Kitcher bring together distinguished scholars from mathematics, history, and philosophy to assess the current state of the field. Their essays, which grow out of a 1985 conference at the University of Minnesota, develop the basic premise that mathematical thought needs to be studied from an interdisciplinary perspective. The opening essays study issues arising within logic and the foundations of mathematics, a traditional area of interest to historians and philosophers. The second section examines issues in the history of mathematics within the framework of established historical periods and questions. Next come case studies that illustrate the power of an interdisciplinary approach to the study of mathematics. The collection closes with a look at mathematics from a sociohistorical perspective, including the way institutions affect what constitutes mathematical knowledge. (shrink)
- Biomedical research, neglected diseases, and well-ordered science.Julian Reiss &Philip Kitcher -2009 -Theoria: Revista de Teoría, Historia y Fundamentos de la Ciencia 24 (3):263-282.In this paper we make a proposal for reforming biomedical research that is aimed to align re-search more closely with the so-called fair-share principle according to which the proportions of global resources as-signed to different diseases should agree with the ratios of human suffering associated with those diseases.
- Ghostly Whispers: Mayr, Ghiselin, and the "Philosophers" on the Ontological Status of Species.Philip Kitcher -1987 -Biology and Philosophy 2 (2):184.
- Kant.Patricia Kitcher,Philip Kitcher &Ralph C. S. Walker -1980 -Philosophical Review 89 (2):282.
- The Evolution of Human Altruism.Philip Kitcher -1993 -Journal of Philosophy 90 (10):497.
- A priori Knowledge Revisited.Philip Kitcher -2000 - In Paul Artin Boghossian & Christopher Peacocke,New Essays on the A Priori. Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press.a priori. Since I ended up defending an unpopular answer to this question—"No"—it’s hardly surprising that people have scrutinized the account, or that many have concluded that I stacked the deck in the first place. Of course, this was not my view of the matter. My own judgment was that I’d uncovered the tacit commitments of mathematical apriorists and that the widespread acceptance of mathematical apriorism rested on failure to ask what was needed for knowledge to be a priori . (...) Nevertheless, my critics have raised important challenges, and have offered rival conceptions that are less demanding. I want to examine their objections to my explication of a priori knowledge, and to explore whether the weaker alternatives succeed in preserving traditional philosophical claims. What follows is a mixture of penitence and intransigence. (shrink)
- Frege's epistemology.Philip Kitcher -1979 -Philosophical Review 88 (2):235-262.
- Against the monism of the moment: A reply to Elliott Sober.Philip Kitcher -1984 -Philosophy of Science 51 (4):616-630.In his "Discussion" (1984), Elliott Sober offers some criticisms of the view about species--pluralistic realism--advocated in my 1984. Sober's comments divide into three parts. He attempts to show that species are not sets; he responds to my critique of David Hull's thesis that species are individuals; and he offers some arguments for the claim that species are "chunks of the genealogical nexus." I consider each of these objections in turn, arguing that each of them fails. I attempt to use Sober's (...) insightful critique to explain and defend pluralistic realism more fully. (shrink)
- Projecting the Order of Nature.Philip Kitcher -1986 - In R. E. Butts,Kant’s Philosophy of Physical Science. Springer. pp. 201–235.No categories
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David Bourget (Western Ontario)
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Area Editors:
David Bourget
Gwen Bradford
Berit Brogaard
Margaret Cameron
David Chalmers
James Chase
Rafael De Clercq
Ezio Di Nucci
Esa Diaz-Leon
Barry Hallen
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Jonathan Ichikawa
Monte Johnson
Michelle Kosch
Øystein Linnebo
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Brandon Look
Manolo Martínez
Matthew McGrath
Michiru Nagatsu
Susana Nuccetelli
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Jack Alan Reynolds
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