Especially troublesome in this dispute is the status of the natural sciences, and this is where Hacking finds some of his most telling cases, from the conflict ...

Scientific inquiry has led to immense explanatory and technological successes, partly as a result of the pervasiveness of scientific theories. Relativity theory, evolutionary theory, and plate tectonics were, and continue to be, wildly successful families of theories within physics, biology, and geology. Other powerful theory clusters inhabit comparatively recent disciplines such as cognitive science, climate science, molecular biology, microeconomics, and Geographic Information Science (GIS). Effective scientific theories magnify understanding, help supply legitimate explanations, and assist in formulating predictions. Moving from their (...) knowledge-producing representational functions to their interventional roles (Hacking 1983), theories are integral to building technologies used within consumer, industrial, and scientific milieus. -/- This entry explores the structure of scientific theories from the perspective of the Syntactic, Semantic, and Pragmatic Views. Each of these views answers questions such as the following in unique ways. What is the best characterization of the composition and function of scientific theory? How is theory linked with world? Which philosophical tools can and should be employed in describing and reconstructing scientific theory? Is an understanding of practice and application necessary for a comprehension of the core structure of a scientific theory? How are these three views ultimately related? (shrink)

"The map is not the territory" is a cartographic truism. It means that unless the map is drawn on a mile-to-mile scale and has the same physical characteristics as the territory itself, it cannot be perfectly accurate. But as David Turnbull demonstrates, the map is a metaphor not only for the territory it represents but for the culture that created it. As such, it takes on the meaning of the territory and its importance in that culture. In this ingenious book, (...) Turnbull challenges common assumptions about the nature of cartography. In each of ten "exhibits" he addresses a seemingly basic concept—that a map is be factually accurate, for example, or that its symbols refer to concrete elements of the landscape—and then illustrates its complexities with maps from Western, Asian, and native cultures, from prehistoric to modern times, accompanied by quotations and historical background. The "exhibits" show how different cultures express their relation to the land, and how those differences ultimately define not only territory but also domination—religious, ideological, cultural, and political. An ideal introduction to the concepts of cartography, this book teaches not only how to read maps, but how to read them between the lines. (shrink)

`Written with elegance and irony, the book is a searching enquiry into realism in the novel... ' Leon Edel.