What is this thing called science?

Every ten years, Alan Chalmers draws on his experience as a teacher and researcher to improve and update the text that strives to answer the philosophical question in it's title: What is This Thing Called Science? Identifying the qualitative difference between knowledge of atoms as it figures in contemporary science and metaphysical speculations about atoms common in philosophy since the time of Democritus proves to be a highly revealing and instructive way to pinpoint key features of the answer to that question. The most significant feat.

"New and extended"--Cover.

"An assessment of the nature and status of science and its methods"--CIP.

Front Cover -- About the Author -- Title page -- Copyright -- Epigraph -- Contents -- Preface to the first edition -- Preface to the second edition -- Preface to the third edition -- Preface to the fourth edition -- Introduction -- CHAPTER 1 Science as knowledge derived from the facts of experience -- A widely held commonsense view of science -- Seeing is believing -- Visual experiences not determined solely by theobject viewed -- Observable facts expressed as statements -- Why should facts precede theory? -- The fallibility of observation statements -- Further reading.

CHAPTER 2 Observation as practical intervention -- Observation: passive and private or active and public? -- Galileo and the moons of Jupiter -- Observable facts objective but fallible -- Further reading -- CHAPTER 3 Experiment -- Not just facts but relevant facts -- The production and updating of experimental results -- Transforming the experimental base of science: historical examples -- Experiment as an adequate basis for science -- Further reading -- CHAPTER 4 Deriving theories from the facts: induction -- Introduction -- Baby logic -- Can scientific laws be derived from the facts?

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