Bunge's writings on the mind-body problem provide a rigorous, analytical antidote to the persistent anti-materialist tendency that has characterized the history of philosophy and science. Bunge gives special attention to dualism and its shortcomings, and this attention is welcome in view of the resurgence of the doctrine today. However, I focus my…

This paper comments on Reisch's book "How the Cold War Transformed Philosophy of Science." Overall supportive of Reisch's project and perspective, it raises certain points where the data appear inconclusive and either provides additional support or briefly explores some interpretative alternatives.

This paper considers George A. Reisch's account of the role of Cold War political forces in shaping the apolitical stance that came to dominate philosophy of science in the late 1940s and 1950s. It argues that at least as early as the 1930s, Logical Empiricists such as Rudolf Carnap already held that philosophy of science could not properly have…

This paper considers several models of politically engaged philosophy with the aim of provoking discussion of George Reisch's "How the Cold War Transformed Philosophy of Science." At issue is the Unity of Science movement's conception of the philosophy of science in particular and what politically engaged philosophy of science might look…

In responding to critics and reviewers of my book, "How the Cold War Transformed Philosophy of Science," I attempt to identify some misleading conventional wisdom about the place of values in philosophy of science and then offer three distinct ways in which philosophers of science can engage their work with ongoing social and political currents.

Recent feminist philosophers of science have argued that feminist values can contribute to rational decisions about which scientific theories to accept. On this view, increasing the number of feminist scientists is important for ensuring rational and objective theory acceptance. The Underdetermination Thesis has played a key role in arguments for…

According to Allchin (2003), Lawson (2002) tried to shoehorn the history of science into a preconceived philosophical category, the hypothetico-deductive method (HD).Lawson replied (2003) that discovery is based on HD because that's the way the brain works, and accused Allchin of shoehorning science into another method, blind search and induction.…