In this original and important book, Harold Kincaid defends a view of the special sciences—all sciences outside physics—as autonomous and nonreducible. He argues that the biological and social sciences provide explanations that cannot be captured by explanations at the level of their constituent parts, and yet that this does not commit us to mysterious, nonphysical entitites like vital forces or group minds. A look at real scientific practice shows that the many different sciences can be unified in a way that leaves them each an autonomous explanatory role. This book will be of great interest to philosophers of science and social scientists.
- ISBN10 0847686620
- ISBN13 9780847686629
- Publish Date 4 November 1997 (first published 4 September 1997)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 28 May 2022
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Rowman & Littlefield
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 172
- Language English