The Comprehensibility of the Universe: A New Conception of Science

The Comprehensibility of the Universe puts forward a radically new conception of science. At present scientific enquiry is shaped by the orthodox view that in accepting or rejecting theories scientists are impartial with respect to evidence and make no permanent assumptions about the world independently of the evidence. Nicholas Maxwell argues that this view is untenable, and that we need a new orthodoxy, which sees science as making a hierarchy of increasingly attenuated metaphysical assumptions about the comprehensibility and knowability of the universe. This new conception has significant implications, as Maxwell explains. One is that it is part of current scientific knowledge that the universe is comprehensible, even physically comprehensible. A second is that metaphysics and philosophy are central to scientific knowledge. A third is that science possesses a rational, though fallible, method of discovery. A fourth is that we need a new understanding of scientific method and rationality. Maxwell points the way towards the solution, within his new conception, of long-standing philosophical problems about science, concerning simplicity, induction, and progress. His goal is the reform not just of the philosophy of science but of science itself, and the healing of the rift between the two.

Table of Contents:
1: A New Conception of Science 2: The Failings of Standard Empiricism 3: Comprehensibility 4: Simplicity 5: Induction 6: Evidence, Progress, and Discovery 7: Quantum Theory Mathematical and Physical Appendix Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Nicholas Maxwell is Emeritus Reader in Philosophy of Science at the University of London.

Review :
`Maxwell's highly informed discussions of the changing ontologies of various modern physical theories are enjoyable, and the physical and mathematical appendix of the book should be a great help to the beginners.' The Philosophical Review, vol.110, no.1 `This admirably ambitious book contains more thought-provoking material than can even be mentioned here. Maxwell's treatment of the descriptive problem of simplicity, and his novel proposals about quantum mechanics deserve special note.' The Philosophical Review, vol.110, no.1 `Maxwell ... has much of interest to say about the development of physical thought since Newton. His comprehensive coverage and sophisticated treatment of basic problems within the philosophy of science make the book well worth studying for philosophers of science as well as for scientists interested in philosophical and methodological matters pertaining to science.' International Philosophical Quarterly `At the close of the twentieth century, The Comprehensibility of the Universe attempts to resurrect an ideal of modern philosophy: to make rational sense of science by offering a philosophical program for improving our knowledge and understanding of the universe. It is a consistent plea for articulating the metaphysical presuppositions of modern science and offers a cure for the theoretical schizophrenia resulting from acceptance of incoherent principles at the base of scientific theory.' Leemon B. McHenry `Nicholas Maxwell ... offers a revamped empiricism, asserting that metaphysical theses feature centrally in the improvement of scientific methodologies and in the content of knowledge ... Maxwell performs a heroic feat in making the physics accessible to the non-physicist, including appendices that provide an introduction to the required mathematical and physical concepts ... Philosophically, there is much here to stimulate and provoke. In particular, there are rewarding comparisons to be made between the functional roles assigned to Maxwell's metaphysical 'blueprints' and Thomas Kuhn's paradigms, as well as between Maxwell's description of theoretical development and Imre Lakatos's methodology of scientific research programmes.' Anjan Chakravartty, THES, 24/9/99