A Pragmatist Dimension in Georg Henrik von Wright’s Philosophy

Toward a Pragmatist Philosophy of Science

This three-part essay begins with a diagnosis of the career of general philosophy of science in the tradition begun by Hempel’s reform of logical positivism. Since 1950, Anglophone philosophy of science has largely sought general accounts of confirmation, theory and explanation. It has not found them. Instead it has assembled some valuable tools for exploring problems in the natural and social ...

Georg Von Bekesy--Visualisation of Hearing.

Georg von Békésy received the Nobel Prize in 1961 for his research on the functioning of the auditory system. In psychoacoustics, Békésy both extended and perfected the lines of research begun by von Helmholtz in the 19th century. First in his native Hungary and later at Harvard, Békésy used novel and imaginative devices and methods to observe and model the functioning of the inner ear. He also...

Experiments in comparative hearing: Georg von Békésy and beyond.

Georg von Békésy was one of the first comparative auditory researchers. He not only studied basilar membrane (BM) movements in a range of mammals of widely different sizes, he also worked on the chicken basilar papilla and the frog middle ear. We show that, in mammals, at least, his data do not differ from those that could be collected using modern techniques but with the same, very loud sounds...

Uncertainty in the Context of Pragmatist Philosophy and Rational Choice Theory

What is meant by uncertainty? Presumably it is a term that has been used in a variety of ways. The present article focuses on some of the interesting relations between uncertainty and both pragmatist philosophy and rational choice theory. Section 2 is concerned primarily with the ways that uncertainty has been accommodated in the study of rational choice and, in particular, the ways in which at...

Pragmatist and Non-pragmatist Knowledge Practices in American Law