On Scientific Representation

This book develops an analysis of the issue of scientific representation (concepts, laws, theories, models, thought experiments) following a revisionist Kantian approach.

Scientific concepts, laws, theories, models and thought experiments are representations but uniquely different. In On Scientific Representation each is given a full philosophical exploration within an original, coherent philosophical framework that is strongly rooted in the Kantian tradition (Kant, Hertz, Vaihinger, Cassirer). Through a revisionist historical approach, Boniolo shows how the Kantian tradition can help us renew and rethink contemporary issues in epistemology and the philosophy of science.

GIOVANNI BONIOLO Lectures at the the Firc Institute of Molecular Oncology (IFOM, Milano), Italy, and is the scientific coordinator of the PhD program in ‘Foundations of Life Science and their Ethical Consequences’ at the European School of Molecular Medicine (SEMM, Milano). He has published extensively in philosophy of science, epistemology and bioethics. He has co-edited Mathematics and Physics: An Interdisciplinary Approach (Springer, 2005) and Evolutionary Ethics and Contemporary Biology (Cambridge University Press, 2006).

Preface * Concepts and Objects * Laws of Nature * Theories, Models, Thought Experiments and Counterfactuals * Bibliography * Index