Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T20:31:41.514Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Discussion: The Failure to be Rational

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Morton L. Schagrin*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy State University of New York at Fredonia

Abstract

In a book and a series of articles (1977a, 1977b, 1977c, 1978) Harold I. Brown has presented “the new theory of science”, which he characterizes as a “modest historicism”. I propose to examine Brown's contribution to the current debate on scientific method, and to show the inadequacy of his proposals. In particular, I want to concentrate on a fundamental concern of Brown's, namely, rationality.

Type
Discussion
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

I am grateful for the criticisms and suggestions from my colleagues at Fredonia, H. I. Brown, J. Pitt, and the referees.

References

REFERENCES

Brown, H. I. (1977a), Perception, Theory and Commitment. Chicago: Precedent.Google Scholar
Brown, H. I. (1977b), “Objective Knowledge in Science and the Humanities”, Diogenes (97): 85102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, H. I. (1977c), “For a Modest Historicism”, The MONIST 4(60): 540555.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, H. I. (1978), “On Being Rational”, American Philosophical Quarterly 4(15): 241248.Google Scholar
Farley, John and Geison, Gerald L. (1974), “Science, Politics and Spontaneous Generation in Nineteenth-Century France: The Pasteur-Pouchet Debate”, Bulletin of The History of Medicine Vol. 48, no. 2: 161198.Google ScholarPubMed
Lugg, Andrew (1980), “Theory Choice and Resistance to Change”, Philosophy of Science, Vol. 47, no. 2: 227243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schagrin, M. L. (1973), “On Being Unreasonable”, Philosophy of Science, Vol. 40, No. 1 19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar