© 1996 by British Society for the Philosophy of Science
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SURVEY ARTICLE |
A Field Guide to Recent Species of Naturalism
Department of Philosophy, University of Georgia Athens, Georgia 30602, USA
This review of recent work in the philosophy of science motivated by a commitment to naturalism begins by identifying three key axioms and one theorem shared by philosophers thus self-styled. Owing much to Quine and Ernest Nagel, these philosophers of science share a common agenda with naturalists elsewhere in philosophy. But they have disagreed among themselves about how the axioms and the theorems they share settle long-standing disputes in the philosophy of science. After expounding these disagreements in the work of Boyd, Giere, Laudan, and Kitcher, I argue that naturalism needs to look for more than mere consistency in its foundations.