James Ladyman

Very interesting ideas. I can tell that Ladyman and Ross are truly committed to naturalism and to - inasmuch as may be possible - developing a metaphysics unwarped by the human perspective. They use clearer language than some, but still more dense than I believe is necessary to convey their ideas. They have made a couple of assertions that I find very hard to defend (e.g., that spooky action at a distance is nothing new; if alice tells bob that she'll call at time T if event X has happened, show more then does not do so, alice has transmitted information to bob superluminally and without energy - I think it is very easy to show that this is a false equivalence, especially since it's not superluminal (bob must wait until alice's lightcone hits him, not just until "time T", to know she didn't call, and energy has most certainly been expended by both parties in preparation for this act and in its realization (alice elaborating the plan, bob considering the entailments of his not having received a call))). Additionally, though this is very common in books of this kind, I am deeply irritated that the argument and discourse with the philosophical community is held in such high priority that it constantly interrupts the authors in conveying their ideas. show less

This little volume describes how complexity science -- "not a single scientific theory but a collection of models and theories that can be used to study the different features in common ways across different kinds of systems" (p 117) -- has developed since the founding Santa Fe meetings of several decades ago. It regards complex systems' features (examples: numerosity. nonlinearity, adaptive behavior) as numbering about a dozen and gets a bit into the rather sophisticated types of show more mathematics used for quantifying several of them show less

An accessible and yet detailed account of the various theories and issues in philosophy of science, ideal for university students and as an introduction for serious laypeople.

Gareth Southwell is a philosopher, writer and illustrator.

This is a useful introduction to the philosophy of science. It includes the main actors including Thomas Kuhn and his revolutions and Karl Popper and his falsificationism. Other subjects include induction and scientific realism.

I comfortably passed a course which included a section on philosophy of science. This book did help (along with my lecturer - who did a great job too)