| Description |
358 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Contents |
Pt. 1. The Dawn of Science. 1. Introduction: Science as a Human Enterprise. 2. Ancient Science: Survival Techniques and Learning by Experience. 3. Natural Causes: Ancient Atoms, Elements, and Transformations of Matter. 4. Early Observation, Reference Frames, and Relativity of Motion -- Pt. 2. Science as Conceptual Model Building, Projection, and Testing. 5. Designing the Heavens: Geometry Shapes Astronomy. 6. The Copernican Dilemma: Replacing a Model. 7. The Book of Nature: Brahe's Data, Kepler's Laws, and Galileo's Telescope. 8. Galilean Thought Experiments and Hypothesis Testing. 9. Newton's Celestial Clockwork; Equations Predict Events -- Pt. 3. The Human Dimension in Science: Problems of Scientific Objectivity. 10. Expanding Partial Pictures: Motifs, Models, Metaphors, and Hypothesis Testing. 11. Scientific Investigation as Interaction: A New Look at Objectivity. 12. Perceiving as Interaction: Sources, Signals, and Senses |
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13. Problems of Objectivity: The Subjective, and Selective, and the Encapsulating. 14. Expanding the Cocoon. 15. Explanation and Interaction: The Expanding Partial Pictures of Seneca, Roger Bacon, and Isaac Newton on the Rainbow. 16. Measurement as Interaction: Space, Time, and Einstein. 17. The Strange World of Four-Dimensional Space-Time: Einstein's Gravitational Framework. 18. Measurement as Intervention: Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. 19. Causality versus Chance in Nature and Knowledge -- Pt. 4. Interactive Systems within Systems. 20. Prediction as Interaction: Cybernetic Feedback. 21. The Human Microcosm: Interactive Worlds within Worlds. 22. Systems within Systems: Structural System Similarities |
| Summary |
Examines the role of the scientist in the process of understanding the world |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Subject |
Objectivity.
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Science -- Methodology.
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Science -- Philosophy.
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| LC no. |
95019752 |
| ISBN |
0879759623 (hc : alk. paper) |
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