Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction

So this is kinda weird: I have a PhD, which stands for Doctor of Philosophy. But I have practically zero formal training in philosophy 🤷‍♂️. Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction by Samir Okasha was a great survey of the field to get anyone up to speed on the foundations of science. The book tackles questions like: What is science? How is it used? Can science prove everything? Can science prove *anything*? After reading the ideas of a lot of scientists and philosophers, it’s easy to see that science is a powerful method of examining and making sense of the world we live in. It’s so good that some people think it’s the *only* way we can discover truth about reality and we should use it for everything! (a philosophy called ‘scientism’). But for what it’s worth, it’s not the only method. And for some things it’s not a very good method at all (like for example ethics, art, value judgments, the meaning of life and the human need for spiritual fulfillment). After examining a number of leading ideas in the philosophy of science, I think it’s actually more accurate to recognize that scientific knowledge and theories are *provisional* - not ‘truth’ in the absolute sense of the word, but useful approximations (subject to revision) that allow us to explain past observations and predict future ones. This philosophy is called ‘instrumentalism’, and adopted by a long list of brilliant scientists who shaped today’s refined scientific view of Nature. Highly recommend this short survey for anyone who wants to understand the power - and limits - of scientific inquiry.

Overall this book did a good job with introducing many of the issues with which the philosophy of science deals. As other reviewers have noted, the sections on Realism and anti-realism (ch 4) and Philosophical problems in physics, biology and psychology (ch 6) are where the book stands out. For me, chapter seven "Science and its critics," was the most problematical. Okasha both mischaracterizes intelligent design, and spends part of the chapter in attempting to refute its claims. I have no problem with Okasha not liking ID, but at least do some research first. 1) It is not a rebranding of creationism. Though there are many Christians in the ID movement, not all all. There are agnostics, Hindus, and others as well. the motivation of the founders does not define the entire movement. Atheist Francis Crick proposes directed panspermia as the method for the inherent apparent design of life. 2). There are various forms of creationism, ranging from Young Earth Creationism, to Old Earth Creationism, to Theistic Evolutionism. Intelligent Design is amenable to the Christian conception of God, but not exclusive to the same. I'm sorry to spend so much of this review on just one chapter, but it marred an otherwise excellent short book.

I picked up this volume in the “Very Short Introductions” series and was amazed how clear, concise and thorough The Philosophy of Science is. The book is organized and written in a way that makes both simple and complex subjects easy to grasp. The author, Samir Okasha, is careful not to prejudice the reader with his own views. He presents issues and debates in a fair, evenhanded manner. Very highly recommended.

This short book covers a wide variety of topics related to philosophy of science and explains them in a very accessible way.

This is an amazing book, extremely compact so you can read it in one day, it covers the whole field and helps you to see what areas you might want to learn more about. Extremely clearly written, you can see how much thought went into making the discussion clean and understandable, which is extremely hard to do.

This is a well-written and very enjoyable introduction to the subject, and for a person with only enough time for a brief overview, it hits just the right level of detail.My favorite part of the book was Chapter 4 on realism vs anti-realism. This is essentially a debate over whether scientific theories should attempt to describe the world as it really is (realism) or just try to produce correct predictions of observables, even if these predictions are based on theoretical entities that are only convenient fictions (anti-realism). The author deftly navigates between the arguments and counter-arguments in an extended back-and-forth that makes a surprisingly engaging read.My least-favorite part is the short section within Chapter 7 on science and religion. I suppose I was hoping for an analysis of the differences between scientific and religions mindsets and some consideration of the rich and complex history of interaction between the two. Instead, the author mostly gave rebuttals to the specific scientific claims of “intelligent design” proponents. Those claims probably deserve rebuttals, but this does little to illuminate the science-religion relationship in general.Overall though, this book is an easy and enjoyable read, and well worth the modest time commitment.

This introduction to the Philosophy of Science is a great entry point into the topic. The author very adroitly introduces the reader to the history of the philosophy of science, its major trends, and some of the ways in which particular sciences have been influenced by and influenced the Philosophy of science. A great little book!

Very well thought out and articulated. Gives a very good intro to all aspects of the tool of science aswell as diving into epistemology.