This book presents the concept of “complementary science” which contributes to scientific knowledge through historical and philosophical investigations. It emphasizes the fact that many simple items of knowledge that we take for granted were actually spectacular achievements obtained only after a great deal of innovative thinking, painstaking experiments, bold conjectures, and serious controversies. Each chapter in the book consists of two parts: a narrative part that states the philosophical puzzle and gives a problem-centred narrative on the historical attempts to solve the puzzle; and the a ... More
Keywords: complementary science, scientific knowledge, history, philosophy of science
Print publication date: 2004 | Print ISBN-13: 9780195171273 |
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: January 2005 | DOI:10.1093/0195171276.001.0001 |