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8 - How Can Conceptual Analysis Contribute to Scientific Practice?

The Case of Cultural Evolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 September 2020

By
Tim Lewens
Edited by
Kostas Kampourakis  and
Tobias Uller
Kostas Kampourakis
Affiliation:
Université de Genève
Tobias Uller
Affiliation:
Lunds Universitet, Sweden
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Summary

Mainstream philosophers often ask questions about concepts that are of fundamental importance to our dealings with each other and with the world. They might ask what is knowledge, or justice, or art. Philosophers of science have asked similar questions about fundamental concepts that characterize science in general: What, for example, is explanation, or probability, or a law of nature? This kind of approach typically aims to understand key concepts in science better, but it does not always aim to inform or assist scientific practice. Moreover, this approach sometimes presupposes – unwisely, according to its critics – that scientists jointly employ some reasonably unified concept of explanation, probability, or a law of nature.

Type
Chapter
Information
Philosophy of Science for Biologists , pp. 146 - 167
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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