Truthlikeness for Multidimensional, Quantitative Cognitive Problems
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This book is concerned with the problem of applying the theory of verisimilitude to cognitive problems of a quantitative nature. Attention is mostly focused on hypotheses concerned with (physical or other) systems whose state can be represented with an element of a multidimensional state space, but hypotheses concerned with quantitative laws are also considered. The book provides a systematic introduction to the main contemporary forms of the theory of verisimilitude, including both proposed definitions of quantitative degrees of verisimilitude and proposed definitions of the relation `closer to the truth than'. It shows why the quantitative measures that have been proposed earlier produce unacceptable results in the multidimensional case and, using the tools of geometric measure theory, works out alternatives for them in detail. In addition, the standard structuralist theory of science and the way in which the problems of approximation are dealt with in it are presented and evaluated critically. Booknews Addresses the problem of applying the theory of verisimilitude to cognitive problems of a quantitative nature, focusing on hypotheses concerned with physical or other systems whose state can be represented with an element of a multidimensional state space, although hypotheses concerned with quantitative laws are also considered. Introduces the main forms of the theory of verisimilitude, shows why quantitative measures proposed earlier produce unacceptable results in the multidimensional case, and uses tools of geometric measure theory to create alternatives. Also outlines and evaluates the standard structuralist theory of science and the ways in which it deals with problems of approximation. For philosophers of science. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
PrefaceCh. 1Introduction1Ch. 2On Competing Theories of Verisimilitude and on Evaluating Them19Ch. 3The Problems of Arbitrariness and Vagueness52Ch. 4The Measures of Verisimilitude of the Similarity Approach76Ch. 5Verisimilitude and the Standard Structuralist Framework126Ch. 6The Structuralist Definitions of Verisimilitude155Ch. 7Galileo, Aristotle, and Some Difficulties with Quantitative Laws181Ch. 8Concluding Remarks193Notes196References211Index of Names219Index of Subjects222
