Particles and Waves Historical Essays in the Philosophy of Science [Paperback]

This volume brings together eleven essays by the distinguished philosopher of science, Peter Achinstein. The unifying theme is the nature of the philosophical problems surrounding the postulation of unobservable entities such as light waves, molecules, and electrons. How, if at all, is it possible to confirm scientific hypotheses about unobservables ? Achinstein examines this question as it arose in actual scientific practice in three nineteenth-century episodes: the debate between particle and wave theorists of light, Maxwell's kinetic theory of gases, and J.J. Thomson's discovery of the electron. The book contains three parts, each devoted to one of these topics, beginning with an essay presenting the historical background of the episode and an introduction to the philosophical issues. There is an illuminating evaluation of various scientific methodologies, including hypothetico-deductivism, inductivism, and the method of independent warrant which combines features of the first two. Achinstein assesses the philosophical validity of both nineteenth-century and modern answers to questions about unobservables, and presents and defends his own solutions.

The Book of Evidenceis ambitious in aim and thorough in detail: it seeks to show what is faulty about the major definitions of evidence that hale been on offer and develops a novel view that relates evidence to explanation and realism. This book has a rare combination of analytical clarity and historical sensibility and could only have been written by someone who has been thinking about these issues for several decades. --SIS

Clearly written and persuasively argued....The conception of scientific method that emerges from this excellent study...is a much more subtle, varied, and complex one than usually depicted....This work should prove to be a landmark in the continuing study of the evolution of scientific methodologies. --Review of Metaphysics

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