Making Prehistory: Historical Science and the Scientific Realism Debate

Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Biology

by Derek Turner

Scientists often make surprising claims about things that no one can observe. In physics, chemistry, and molecular biology, scientists can at least experiment on those unobservable entities, but what about researchers in fields such as paleobiology and geology who study prehistory, where no such experimentation is possible? Do scientists discover facts about the distant past or do they, in some sense, make prehistory? In this book Derek Turner argues that this problem has surprising and important consequences for the scientific realism debate. His discussion covers some of the main positions in philosophy of science - realism, social constructivism, empiricism, and the natural ontological attitude - and shows how they relate to issues in paleobiology and geology. His original and thought-provoking book will be of wide interest to philosophers and scientists alike.

Genres: Science, Philosophy, History Of Science, Geology

238 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Brian Beatty · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a practicing scientist that deals with paleobiology, I find myself less convinced of realism after reading this, and instead more fond of the constructive empiricist way of thinking. I see Turner's point about Arthur Fine's NOA, but find it operationally too optimistic.