Librarian
Hesburgh Library
102 Hesburgh Library
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556
(574) 631-5835
jross@nd.edu
Overview of History and Philosophy of Science
Philosophy of science is a sub-field of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultimate purpose of science. This discipline overlaps with metaphysics, ontology, and epistemology, for example, when it explores the relationship between science and truth. While philosophical thought pertaining to science dates back at least to the time of Aristotle, philosophy of science emerged as a distinct discipline only in the middle of the 20th century in the wake of the logical positivism movement, which aimed to formulate criteria for ensuring all philosophical statements' meaningfulness and objectively assessing them. Thomas Kuhn's landmark 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions was also formative, challenging the view of scientific progress as steady, cumulative acquisition of knowledge based on a fixed method of systematic experimentation and instead arguing that any progress is relative to a "paradigm," the set of questions, concepts, and practices that define a scientific discipline in a particular historical period. Karl Popper and Charles Sanders Pierce moved on from positivism to establish a modern set of standards for scientific methodology.
Related subjects include: Philosophy, Biology, Mathematics, Engineering, Chemistry, and Physics.
Other Related Guides
Dictionaries & Encyclopedias
Dictionaries are most often collections of words in one or more specific languages, usually arranged in alphabetical order, providing information like word meanings, usage, etymology, and, when they contain more than one language, translations. Some dictionaries include information more commonly found in encyclopedias. Encyclopedias are collections of information on terms, figures, eras, locations also arranged alphabetically, and, alongside definitions of terms, they also include more in-depth general information on a topic. Encyclopedias can be general or subject-specific.
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Dictionary of ScientistsSpanning over 2,500 years, it covers all areas of science, from physics and astronomy to medicine and ecology, including key figures in the fields of mathematics and technology. Offering clear explanations of the science itself as well as its historical significance, the dictionary includes coverage of all Nobel Laureates in physics, chemistry, physiology, and medicine.
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McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & TechnologyFull access to 8500+ articles, 110,000 dictionary terms, and hundreds of Research Updates in all areas of science and technology, updated daily; over 2000 biographies of leading scientists.
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Oxford Companion to the History of Modern ScienceFocusing on the period from the Renaissance to the early twenty-first century, the articles cover all disciplines, historical periods, concepts, and methodologies and philosophies. Coverage is international, tracing the spread of science from its traditional centers and explaining how the prevailing knowledge of non-Western societies has modified or contributed to the dominant global science as it is currently understood.
Biographies
Biography provides a description of a person's life, detailing the basic facts like birth and death, education, family background, etc. but also portraying the individual subject's experience of those life events.
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American national biographyA standard biographical resource for more than 17,000 notable people in American history.
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Mathematical BiographiesBiographies of Female Mathematicians, Biographies of Mathematicians, Mathematician of the Day, and the Mathematics Genealogy Project.