Results for 'Brad Wray'

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  1. A selectionist explanation for the success and failures of science.K. Brad Wray - 2007 - Erkenntnis 67 (1):81-89.
    I argue that van Fraassen’s selectionist explanation for the success of science is superior to the realists’ explanation. Whereas realists argue that our current theories are successful because they accurately reflect the structure of the world, the selectionist claims that our current theories are successful because unsuccessful theories have been eliminated. I argue that, unlike the explanation proposed by the realist, the selectionist explanation can also account for the failures of once successful theories and the fact that sometimes two competing (...)
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  2. Introduction: Collective Knowledge and Science.K. Brad Wray - 2010 - Episteme 7 (3):181-184.
    The literature on collective belief and collective intentionality has grown rapidly and is now quite extensive. Philosophers have applied the concepts of “collective belief” and “collective intentionality” in a variety of contexts, including political and legal contexts as well as scientific contexts, specifically to model the behavior of research teams and scientific specialties.
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  3.  46
    Small Bohr: John L. Heilbron: Niels Bohr: a very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020, xxii+132 pp, £8.99 PB.K. Brad Wray - 2021 - Metascience 31 (1):27-28.
    This is a book review of John Heilbron's book _Niels Bohr: a very short introduction_.
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  4. Helen E. Longino, The Fate of Knowledge Reviewed by.K. Brad Wray - 2002 - Philosophy in Review 22 (5):334-335.
     
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  5.  30
    Reinterpreting §56 of Frege's The Foundations of Arithmetic.K. Brad Wray - 1995 - Auslegung 20 (2):76-82.
    I defend an alternative reading of §56 of Frege's Grundlagen, one that rescues Frege from Dummett's charge that this section is the weakest in the whole book. On my reading, Frege is not presenting arguments against the adjectival strategy. Rather, Frege presents the definitions in §55 in order to convince his reader that numbers must be objects. In §56 Frege suggests that these definitions contain two shortcomings that adequate definitions of numbers must overcome. And these short-comings, he argues, can only (...)
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  6.  83
    What happened when chemists came to classify elements by their atomic number?K. Brad Wray - 2022 - Foundations of Chemistry 24 (2):161-170.
    I respond to Scerri’s recent reply to my claim that there was a scientific revolution in chemistry in the early twentieth Century. I grant, as Scerri insists, that there are significant continuities through the change about which we are arguing. That is so in all scientific revolutions. But I argue that the changes were such that they constitute a Kuhnian revolution, not in the classic sense of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, but in the sense of Kuhn’s mature theory, developed (...)
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  7.  27
    Scientific and philosophical publication: the current state of affairs.K. Brad Wray - 2024 - Metascience 33 (1):1-3.
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  8.  77
    Induction, Rationality, and the Realism/Anti-realism Debate: A Reply to Shech.K. Brad Wray - 2022 - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 34 (4):243-247.
    Shech (2022) offers a critical assessment of my defense of anti-realism, developed in Resisting Scientific Realism. Induction and inductive inferences play a central role in Shech’s critical analysis of my defense of realism. I argue that Shech’s criticisms that relate to induction and inductive inference are problematic, and do not constitute a threat to my defense of anti-realism. Contrary to what Shech claims, the anti-realist does not need to explain why inductive inferences are successful. That is not part of contemporary (...)
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  9. Feyerabend's theoretical pluralism : an investigation of the epistemic value of false theories.K. Brad Wray - 2021 - In Karim Bschir & Jamie Shaw, Interpreting Feyerabend: Critical Essays. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
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  10.  18
    Developments in book reading, a 25-year personal history.K. Brad Wray - 2022 - Metascience 31 (2):141-143.
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  11.  17
    Five years… and still going.K. Brad Wray - 2020 - Metascience 29 (2):175-176.
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  12.  41
    The cognition dimension of theory change in Kuhn’s philosophy of science.K. Brad Wray - 2007 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 38 (3):610-613.
    This is an essay review of Andersen, Barker and Chen's The Cognitive Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
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  13. Kuhn's Evolutionary Social Epistemology.K. Brad Wray - 2011 - Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
    Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions has been enduringly influential in philosophy of science, challenging many common presuppositions about the nature of science and the growth of scientific knowledge. However, philosophers have misunderstood Kuhn's view, treating him as a relativist or social constructionist. In this book, Brad Wray argues that Kuhn provides a useful framework for developing an epistemology of science that takes account of the constructive role that social factors play in scientific inquiry. He examines the core concepts (...)
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  14. Resisting Scientific Realism.K. Brad Wray - 2018 - Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    In this book K. Brad Wray provides a comprehensive survey of the arguments against scientific realism. In addition to presenting logical considerations that undermine the realists' inferences to the likely truth or approximate truth of our theories, he provides a thorough assessment of the evidence from the history of science. He also examines grounds for a defence of anti-realism, including an anti-realist explanation for the success of our current theories, an account of why false theories can be empirically (...)
     
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  15.  18
    Ten years and farewell.K. Brad Wray - 2024 - Metascience 33 (3):307-309.
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  16. (1 other version)Kuhn’s Social Epistemology and the Sociology of Science.K. Brad Wray - 2015 - In William J. Devlin & Alisa Bokulich, Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions - 50 Years On. Cham: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, vol. 311. Springer. pp. 167-183.
    This chapter discusses Kuhn’s conception of the history of science by focussing on two respects in which Kuhn is an historicist historian and philosopher of science. I identify two distinct, but related, aspects of historicism in the work of Hegel and show how these are also found in Kuhn’s work. First, Kuhn held tradition to be important for understanding scientific change and that the tradition from which a scientific idea originates must be understood in evaluating that idea. This makes Kuhn (...)
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  17.  36
    A Defense of Structure in Structure of Scientific Revolutions.K. Brad Wray - 2023 - In Pablo Melogno, Hernán Miguel & Leandro Giri, Perspectives on Kuhn: Contemporary Approaches to the Philosophy of Thomas Kuhn. Springer. pp. 25-40.
    Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions has been attacked for many reasons. Key analytic terms, most importantly “paradigm,” were widely regarded as poorly defined. To many readers Structure seemed to suggest that the process of theory change is irrational, or at least non-rational. And even his characterization of normal science seemed to some readers to paint a very unflattering picture of scientists as excessively dogmatic and uncritical. More recently, Lorraine Daston has argued that the notion of “structure” that figures in the (...)
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  18.  13
    A foundational text in scientometrics.K. Brad Wray - 2023 - Metascience 32 (2):235-239.
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  19.  10
    Influences on Kuhn and the Relationship between History and Philosophy of Science.K. Brad Wray - unknown
    This paper provides an analysis of the Preface and Chapter 1 of Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. It will be translated into German, and published in a volume edited by Markus Seidel.
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  20.  46
    What I did on my summer vacation.K. Brad Wray - 2023 - Metascience 32 (3):299-300.
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  21. Scientific authorship in the age of collaborative research.K. Brad Wray - 2006 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 37 (3):505-514.
    I examine two challenges that collaborative research raises for science. First, collaborative research threatens the motivation of scientists. As a result, I argue, collaborative research may have adverse effects on what sorts of things scientists can effectively investigate. Second, collaborative research makes it more difficult to hold scientists accountable. I argue that the authors of multi-authored articles are aptly described as plural subjects, corporate bodies that are more than the sum of the individuals involved. Though journal editors do not currently (...)
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  22.  31
    What we publish in Metascience.K. Brad Wray, Lori Nash & Jonathan Simon - 2022 - Metascience 31 (3):293-296.
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  23.  50
    Reflections on Method in Philosophy of Science.K. Brad Wray - 2021 - 3:16 Finding Meaning.
  24.  99
    Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions at 60.K. Brad Wray (ed.) - 2024 - Cambridge University Press.
    Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions has sold more than one million copies since its publication in 1962, is one of the most cited academic books of all time, and continues to be read and studied today. This volume of new essays evaluates the significance of Kuhn's classic book in its changing historical context, including its initial reception and its lasting effects. The essays explore the range of ideas which Kuhn made popular with his influential philosophy of science, including (...)
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  25.  40
    History of Epistemic Communities and Collaborative Research.K. Brad Wray - 2001 - In James Wright, International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition). Elsevier. pp. 867-872.
    Studies of epistemic communities and collaborative research in the social sciences have deepened the understanding of how science works, and more specifically how the social dimensions of scientific practice both enable and impede social scientists in realizing their epistemic goals. Two types of studies of epistemic communities are distinguished: general theories of epistemic communities aim to construct accounts of theoretical change applicable to all social scientific specialties, whereas historical studies emphasize the contingencies that affect specific social scientific disciplines, subfields, or (...)
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  26.  28
    Specialization in philosophy: a preliminary study.K. Brad Wray - 2013 - Scientometrics.
    I examine the degree of specialization in various sub-fields of philosophy, drawing on data from the PhilPapers Survey. The following three sub-fields are highly specialized: Ancient philosophy, seventeenth/eighteenth century philosophy, and philosophy of physics. The following sub-fields have a low level of specialization: metaphilosophy, philosophy of religion, philosophy of probability, philosophy of the social sciences, decision theory, and philosophy of race and gender. Highly specialized sub-fields tend to require extensive knowledge in some area beyond the typical training of a philosopher, (...)
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  27.  34
    Co-authorship in chemistry at the turn of the twentieth century: the case of Theodore W. Richards.K. Brad Wray - 2024 - Foundations of Chemistry 26 (1):75-88.
    It is widely recognized that conceptual and theoretical innovations and the employment of new instruments and experimental techniques are important factors in explaining the growth of scientific knowledge in chemistry. This study examines another dimension of research in chemistry, collaboration and co-authorship. I focus specifically on Theodore Richards’ career and publications. During the period in which Richards worked, co-authorship was beginning to become more common than it had been previously. Richards was the first American chemist to be awarded a Nobel (...)
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  28.  5
    Is the Lack of Inter-referee Reliability a Threat to the Effectiveness of Peer Review in Science?K. Brad Wray - forthcoming - Perspectives on Science:1-23.
    Many have criticized the peer-review system employed in scientific publication because of the apparent lack of inter-referee reliability. It is often remarked that if referees cannot agree about the quality of a scientific manuscript, then the selection of manuscripts for publication is arbitrary. Some critics have even called for abolishing pre-publication peer-review. I argue that too much emphasis has been put on inter-referee reliability. As such, a lack of inter-referee reliability in the current peer-review system is not damning for the (...)
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  29.  7
    A hobbit’s guide to technology ethics.K. Brad Wray - forthcoming - Metascience:1-3.
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  30.  20
    Metascience builds connections.K. Brad Wray & Lori Nash - 2023 - Metascience 32 (1):1-2.
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  31.  49
    Theodore Richards and the discovery of isotopes.K. Brad Wray - 2022 - Foundations of Chemistry 25 (1):57-66.
    I challenge Gareth Eaton’s recent claim that Theodore Richards should be counted among the discoverers of isotopes. In evaluating Eaton’s claim, I draw on two influential theories of scientific discovery, one developed by Thomas Kuhn, and one developed by Augustine Brannigan. I argue that though Richards’ experimental work contributed to the discovery, his work does not warrant attributing the discovery to him. Richards’ reluctance to acknowledge isotopes is well documented. Further, the fact that he made no claim to having made (...)
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  32.  98
    Thomas Kuhn, Hyperbole, and the Ashtray: Evidence of Morris’ Faulty Memory.K. Brad Wray - 2023 - Philosophy of Science 90 (1):196-199.
    Errol Morris has claimed that Kuhn threw an ashtray at him during a dispute about some matter in the history of science. Morris also claims that Kuhn threw him out of the graduate program at Princeton for disagreeing with him. I argue that Morris’ attack on Kuhn contains some degree of hyperbole. Further, I present evidence that shows that Morris is mistaken about key events during this period. In fact, Kuhn was supportive of Morris in his pursuit of a career (...)
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  33.  26
    Exemplifying Metascience.Luciano Boschiero & K. Brad Wray - 2019 - Metascience 28 (3):353-354.
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  34. Collective Belief And Acceptance.K. Brad Wray - 2001 - Synthese 129 (3):319-333.
    Margaret Gilbert explores the phenomenon referredto in everyday ascriptions ofbeliefs to groups. She refers to this type ofphenomenon as ``collective belief'' andcalls the types of groups that are the bearersof such beliefs ``plural subjects''. Iargue that the attitudes that groups adoptthat Gilbert refers to as ``collectivebeliefs'' are not a species of belief in animportant and central sense, but rathera species of acceptance. Unlike proper beliefs,a collective belief is adopted bya group as a means to realizing the group'sgoals. Unless we recognize (...)
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  35. The epistemic significance of collaborative research.K. Brad Wray - 2002 - Philosophy of Science 69 (1):150-168.
    I examine the epistemic import of collaborative research in science. I develop and defend a functional explanation for its growing importance. Collaborative research is becoming more popular in the natural sciences, and to a lesser degree in the social sciences, because contemporary research in these fields frequently requires access to abundant resources, for which there is great competition. Scientists involved in collaborative research have been very successful in accessing these resources, which has in turn enabled them to realize the epistemic (...)
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  36.  22
    Identifying a classic in history, philosophy, and social studies of science.Luciano Boschiero & K. Brad Wray - 2018 - Metascience 27 (2):181-182.
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  37. Who has scientific knowledge?K. Brad Wray - 2007 - Social Epistemology 21 (3):337 – 347.
    I examine whether or not it is apt to attribute knowledge to groups of scientists. I argue that though research teams can be aptly described as having knowledge, communities of scientists identified with research fields, and the scientific community as a whole are not capable of knowing. Scientists involved in research teams are dependent on each other, and are organized in a manner to advance a goal. Such teams also adopt views that may not be identical to the views of (...)
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  38.  48
    Kuhn's Intellectual Path: Charting the Structure of Scientific Revolutions.K. Brad Wray - 2021 - Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions offers an insightful and engaging theory of science that speaks to scholars across many disciplines. Though initially widely misunderstood, it had a profound impact on the way intellectuals and educated laypeople thought about science. K. Brad Wray traces the influences on Kuhn as he wrote Structure, including his ‘Aristotle epiphany’, his interactions, and his studies of the history of chemistry. Wray then considers the impact of Structure on the social sciences, (...)
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  39. Pessimistic Inductions: Four Varieties.K. Brad Wray - 2015 - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 29 (1):61-73.
    The pessimistic induction plays an important role in the contemporary realism/anti-realism debate in philosophy of science. But there is some disagreement about the structure and aim of the argument. And a number of scholars have noted that there is more than one type of PI in the philosophical literature. I review four different versions of the PI. I aim to show that PIs have been appealed to by philosophers of science for a variety of reasons. Even some realists have appealed (...)
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  40. The pessimistic induction and the exponential growth of science reassessed.K. Brad Wray - 2013 - Synthese 190 (18):4321-4330.
    My aim is to evaluate a new realist strategy for addressing the pessimistic induction, Ludwig Fahrbach’s (Synthese 180:139–155, 2011) appeal to the exponential growth of science. Fahrbach aims to show that, given the exponential growth of science, the history of science supports realism. I argue that Fahrbach is mistaken. I aim to show that earlier generations of scientists could construct a similar argument, but one that aims to show that the theories that they accepted are likely true. The problem with (...)
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  41. Selection and Predictive Success.K. Brad Wray - 2010 - Erkenntnis 72 (3):365-377.
    Van Fraassen believes our current best theories enable us to make accurate predictions because they have been subjected to a selection process similar to natural selection. His explanation for the predictive success of our best theories has been subjected to extensive criticism from realists. I aim to clarify the nature of van Fraassen’s selectionist explanation for the success of science. Contrary to what the critics claim, the selectionist can explain why it is that we have successful theories, as well as (...)
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  42. Success and truth in the realism/anti-realism debate.K. Brad Wray - 2013 - Synthese 190 (9):1719-1729.
    I aim to clarify the relationship between the success of a theory and the truth of that theory. This has been a central issue in the debates between realists and anti-realists. Realists assume that success is a reliable indicator of truth, but the details about the respects in which success is a reliable indicator or test of truth have been largely left to our intuitions. Lewis (Synthese 129:371–380, 2001) provides a clear proposal of how success and truth might be connected, (...)
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  43. The argument from underconsideration as grounds for anti‐realism: A defence.K. Brad Wray - 2008 - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 22 (3):317 – 326.
    The anti-realist argument from underconsideration focuses on the fact that, when scientists evaluate theories, they only ever consider a subset of the theories that can account for the available data. As a result, when scientists judge one theory to be superior to competitor theories, they are not warranted in drawing the conclusion that the superior theory is likely true with respect to what it says about unobservable entities and processes. I defend the argument from underconsideration from the objections of Peter (...)
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  44.  14
    Rational Communities.K. Brad Wray - 1997 - Perspectives on Science 5 (2):232-254.
    I critically examine Miriam Solomon’s critique of individualist normative accounts of scientific rationality and her own “social” account of scientific rationality that takes communities to be the locus of rationality. I argue that scientists are not influenced in their decision making by nonepistemic factors to the extent that Solomon suggests and an individualist account can show how judgmental heuristics are conducive to scientific success. I also argue that Solomon’s account of rationality cannot guide us when we do not yet know (...)
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  45. Invisible hands and the success of science.K. Brad Wray - 2000 - Philosophy of Science 67 (1):163-175.
    David Hull accounts for the success of science in terms of an invisible hand mechanism, arguing that it is difficult to reconcile scientists' self-interestedness or their desire for recognition with traditional philosophical explanations for the success of science. I argue that we have less reason to invoke an invisible hand mechanism to explain the success of science than Hull implies, and that many of the practices and institutions constitutive of science are intentionally designed by scientists with an eye to realizing (...)
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  46.  97
    The atomic number revolution in chemistry: a Kuhnian analysis.K. Brad Wray - 2017 - Foundations of Chemistry 20 (3):209-217.
    This paper argues that the field of chemistry underwent a significant change of theory in the early twentieth century, when atomic number replaced atomic weight as the principle for ordering and identifying the chemical elements. It is a classic case of a Kuhnian revolution. In the process of addressing anomalies, chemists who were trained to see elements as defined by their atomic weight discovered that their theoretical assumptions were impediments to understanding the chemical world. The only way to normalize the (...)
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  47. Philosophy of Science: What are the Key Journals in the Field?K. Brad Wray - 2010 - Erkenntnis 72 (3):423-430.
    By means of a citation analysis I aim to determine which scholarly journals are most important in the sub-field of philosophy of science. My analysis shows that the six most important journals in the sub-field are Philosophy of Science , British Journal for the Philosophy of Science , Journal of Philosophy , Synthese , Studies in History and Philosophy of Science , and Erkenntnis . Given the data presented in this study, there is little evidence that there is such a (...)
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  48. Still resisting: replies to my critics.K. Brad Wray - 2020 - Metascience 29 (1):33-40.
  49. Epistemic Privilege and the Success of Science.K. Brad Wray - 2010 - Noûs 46 (3):375-385.
    Realists and anti-realists disagree about whether contemporary scientists are epistemically privileged. Because the issue of epistemic privilege figures in arguments in support of and against theoretical knowledge in science, it is worth examining whether or not there is any basis for assuming such privilege. I show that arguments that try to explain the success of science by appeal to some sort of epistemic privilege have, so far, failed. They have failed to give us reason to believe (i) that scientists are (...)
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  50.  32
    What Really Divides Gilbert and the Rejectionists?K. Brad Wray - 2003 - ProtoSociology 18:363-376.
    Rejectionists argue that collective belief ascriptions are best understood as instances of collective acceptance rather than belief. Margaret Gilbert objects to rejectionist accounts of collective belief statements. She argues that rejectionists rely on a questionable methodology when they inquire into the nature of collective belief ascriptions, and make an erroneous inference when they are led to believe that collectives do not really have beliefs. Consequently, Gilbert claims that collective belief statements are best understood as instances of belief. I critically examine (...)
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