Theory and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science

Citation

Godfrey-Smith, P. (2021). Theory and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science (2nd ed.). University of Chicago Press.

Chapter Summary

The second edition runs to about 370 pages in fourteen chapters, followed by a glossary, a list of websites, references and an index. The publisher describes it as a tour of more than a hundred years of debate about science that combines a survey of the recent history of the field with current debates, with examples and asides for beginners and suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter. The edition is described as thoroughly updated and expanded, with a new chapter on truth, simplicity and models. The chapter titles show a sequence that runs roughly from the early twentieth century to present-day debates.

Chapters 1–3: Introduction; Empiricism; Evidence and Induction

The opening chapters set up the book's questions (how science works, whether it tells us what the world is really like, and what makes it different from other ways of understanding the world, in the publisher's words) and then turn to empiricism and to the relation between evidence and general conclusions.

Chapters 4–6: Popper: Conjecture and Refutation; Kuhn's Revolution; Theories and Frameworks

Three chapters follow the best-known twentieth-century accounts of scientific method and change: Popper's view of science as bold conjecture tested by attempted refutation, Kuhn's account of how sciences change, and a chapter on theories and the larger frameworks within which they are developed.

Chapters 7–9: The Challenge from Sociology of Science; Science Is Political; Naturalistic Philosophy

The middle of the book turns to challenges from outside traditional philosophy of science: sociological accounts of how scientific belief is formed, the claim that science is political, and the naturalistic approach that treats philosophy of science as continuous with science itself.

Chapters 10–11: Scientific Realism; Explanation, Laws, and Causes

Two chapters address standing problems: whether science gives an accurate description of a reality that exists independently of us, and what scientific explanation, laws of nature and causes are.

Chapter 12: Bayesianism and New Views of Evidence

The book returns to evidence with probabilistic approaches. The author's own published corrections to this chapter show that it discusses how people who start with very different prior probabilities can converge as shared evidence comes in, and the conditions under which this convergence holds.

Chapter 13: Truth, Simplicity, and Other Problems

New in this edition, according to the publisher: a chapter on truth, simplicity and models in science.

Chapter 14: The Future

The final chapter looks ahead to where the philosophy of science may go.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–6: From empiricism to Kuhn

• Empiricism: the view that knowledge, including scientific knowledge, rests on experience.
• Induction: inference from observed cases to general conclusions, and the problem of what makes such inference reasonable.
• Conjecture and refutation: Popper's picture of science as advancing by bold hypotheses that survive attempts to falsify them.
• Scientific revolution: in Kuhn's account, a change of framework rather than a simple accumulation of results.

Chapters 7–11: Challenges and standing problems

• Sociology of science: the study of science as a social activity, here presented as a challenge to traditional philosophical accounts.
• Naturalism: the approach that uses the results and methods of science to understand science itself.
• Scientific realism: the view that science aims to describe, and can describe, a world that exists independently of observers.

Chapters 12–14: Bayesianism and newer debates

• Bayesianism: treating degrees of belief as probabilities updated in the light of evidence.
• Washing out of priors: the result that initial disagreements can be overcome by enough shared evidence, under conditions the book specifies.
• Models: simplified representations used in science, one of the topics of the new Chapter 13.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• History and current debate together. The publisher presents the book's distinctive feature as combining a survey of the recent history of philosophy of science with current debates that a beginner can follow. The chapter sequence bears this out, from empiricism, Popper and Kuhn to sociology of science, naturalism, realism and Bayesianism.
• Readable and opinionated. Reviews reprinted by the publisher praise its clarity: Choice called it an excellent overview of the field from the early twentieth century onward, James Sage in Metapsychology found it thorough, clear and penetrating and suitable for students with little or no background, and the Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences singled out its charmingly opinionated style and the way it ties later perspectives back to the positivist tradition.
• Study aids. Each chapter has suggestions for further reading, and the glossary explains key terms.
• An author who corrects the record. Godfrey-Smith has published a note correcting two passages of Chapter 12, including an over-strong statement of the convergence result that also appeared in the first edition; the note says electronic versions and later reprints should include the corrections.

Limitations

• A long book for a first course. At about 370 pages it asks more of a beginner than a very short introduction, and a one-term course will usually have to select chapters.
• Check which printing is used. Early printings of the second edition contain the two errors in Chapter 12 that the author has since corrected; readers of those printings should consult the correction note.
• A guided tour, not a reader. The book reconstructs and discusses the classic positions rather than reproducing them, so a course that wants students to read Popper, Kuhn or the sociologists of science in the original needs primary texts alongside.

Where It Fits in the Course

Theory and Reality is the most historically organised book on this course list and a natural main text for a first course. Samir Okasha's Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction covers the central topics thematically in about 130 pages and works well as a preview. Alan Chalmers's What Is This Thing Called Science? is a compact alternative that starts from the commonsense view that science is derived from the facts of experience and examines it critically before turning to twentieth-century accounts of method and theory change; it can be read before or alongside Godfrey-Smith.

Rosenberg and McIntyre's Philosophy of Science: A Contemporary Introduction is organised by problems (explanation, laws, confirmation, theory change) and connects them with epistemology and metaphysics; it complements Godfrey-Smith's historical approach and suits students who want a second, more systematic pass. Two primary works on the list connect directly with chapters here: Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions with Chapter 5, and Bas van Fraassen's The Scientific Image, a statement of constructive empiricism, with the realism debate of Chapter 10.

How to Use This Book

The book is written for beginners: the publisher describes it as completely accessible and aims its examples and asides at the beginning student. No previous philosophy is required, though some familiarity with how scientific research is done helps.

• Core sequence: Chapters 1–5, which cover the classic positions (empiricism, induction, Popper, Kuhn) in the order the book presents them.
• Choose by course emphasis: Chapters 6–9 for courses interested in theory change, social studies of science and naturalism; Chapters 10–12 for courses focused on realism, explanation and confirmation.
• Newer material: Chapter 13 on truth, simplicity and models, and Chapter 14 on the future of the field, are best read after the core.
• Alongside: pair Chapter 4 with a text by Popper and Chapter 5 with Kuhn's Structure; use the further reading at the end of each chapter and the glossary while reading. Readers of Chapter 12 should check the author's correction note on his website.

A practical way to read the historical chapters is to note, for each position, which problem of its predecessor it was meant to solve; the book's chronological order makes this sequence of problems and responses easy to follow.