Reality and Rationality [Hardcover]

This volume of articles (most published, some new) is a follow-up to the late Wesley C. Salmon's widely read collectionCausality And Explanation(OUP 1998). It contains both published and unpublished articles, and focuses on two related areas of inquiry: First, is science a rational enterprise? Secondly, does science yield objective information about our world, even the aspects that we cannot observe directly? Salmon's own take is that objective knowledge of the world is possible, and his work in these articles centers around proving that this can be so. Salmon's influential standing in the field ensures that this volume will be of interest to both undergraduates and professional philosophers, primarily in the philosophy of science.

Salmon was an important contributor to various debates in the area and the lucidity of his prose makes the great majority of the essays accessible to the full spectrum of readers, from undergraduates to professional philosophers. This collection of essays will provide a fitting tribute to one of the best philosophers of science in the twentieth century. It contains arguments of permanent value and each is written in the limpid style that makes Salmon such a delight to read. --Paul Humphreys, University of Virginia

Wesley C. Salmonwas University Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh. He devoted his main research efforts to causality and explanation and to probability, induction, and confirmation. Among his major works areScientific Explanation and the Causal Structure of the World(1984) andCausality and Explanation(1998).