{"title":"Michael Strevens","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"depth-book-michael-strevens-9780674062573","title":"Depth","description":"What does it mean for scientists to truly understand, rather than to merely describe, how the world works? Michael Strevens proposes a novel theory of scientific explanation and understanding that overhauls and augments the familiar causal approach to explanation. What is replaced is the test for explanatorily relevant causal information: Strevens discards the usual criterion of counterfactual dependence in favor of a criterion that turns on a process of progressive abstraction away from a fully detailed, physical causal story. The augmentations include the introduction of a new, non-causal explanatory relevance relation—entanglement—and an independent theory of the role of black-boxing and functional specification in explanation.  The abstraction-centered notion of difference-making leads to a rich causal treatment of many aspects of explanation that have been either ignored or handled inadequately by earlier causal approaches, including the explanation of laws and other regularities, with particular attention to the explanation of physically contingent high-level laws, idealization in explanation, and probabilistic explanation in deterministic systems, as in statistical physics, evolutionary biology, and medicine.  The result is an account of explanation that has especially significant consequences for the higher-level sciences: biology, psychology, economics, and other social sciences.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49529979896081,"sku":"GOR009753635","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51803200586001,"sku":"NGR9780674062573","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0674062574.jpg?v=1751393335"},{"product_id":"bigger-than-chaos-book-michael-strevens-9780674022591","title":"Bigger than Chaos","description":"Many complex systemsfrom immensely complicated ecosystems to minute assemblages of moleculessurprise us with their simple behavior. In this book, Michael Strevens aims to explain how simplicity can coexist with, indeed be caused by, the tangled interconnections between a complex systems many parts.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49566741922065,"sku":"GOR013555589","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50243002990865,"sku":"CIN0674022599VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51803197636881,"sku":"NGR9780674022591","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0674022599.jpg?v=1779184168"},{"product_id":"knowledge-machine-book-michael-strevens-9780141981260","title":"The Knowledge Machine","description":"Rich with tales of discovery from Galileo to general relativity, a stimulating and timely analysis of how science works and why we need it.   'The best introduction to the scientific enterprise that I know. A wonderful and important book' David Wootton, author of The Invention of Science   It is only in the last three centuries that the formidable knowledge-making machine we call modern science has transformed our way of life and our vision of the universe - two thousand years after the invention of law, philosophy, drama and mathematics. Why did we take so long to invent science? And how has it proved to be so powerful?   The Knowledge Machine gives a radical answer, exploring how science calls on its practitioners to do something apparently irrational: strip away all previous knowledge - such as theological, metaphysical or political beliefs - and channel unprecedented energy into observation and experiment. In times of climate extremes, novel diseases and rapidly advancing technology, Strevens contends that we need more than ever to grasp the inner workings of our knowledge machine.   'A stylish and accessible investigation into the nature of the scientific method' Nigel Warburton, Philosophy Bites  'This elegant book takes us to the heart of the scientific enterprise' David Papineau, King's College London, author of Knowing the Score  'This book is a delight to read, richly illustrated with wonderfully told incidents from the history of natural science' Nancy Cartwright, University of California San Diego","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49737231728913,"sku":"NGR9780141981260","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49794671542545,"sku":"GOR012306775","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52331352555793,"sku":"NLS9780141981260","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52976277029137,"sku":"GOR014675558","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53460147437841,"sku":"GOR012827901","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0141981261.jpg?v=1750694732"},{"product_id":"knowledge-machine-book-michael-strevens-9780241205778","title":"The Knowledge Machine","description":"Rich with tales of discovery from Galileo to general relativity, a stimulating and timely analysis of how science works and why we need it.  'The best introduction to the scientific enterprise that I know. A wonderful and important book' David Wootton, author of The Invention of Science  It is only in the last three centuries that the formidable knowledge-making machine we call modern science has transformed our way of life and our vision of the universe - two thousand years after the invention of law, philosophy, drama and mathematics. Why did we take so long to invent science? And how has it proved to be so powerful?   The Knowledge Machine gives a radical answer, exploring how science calls on its practitioners to do something apparently irrational: strip away all previous knowledge - such as theological, metaphysical or political beliefs - and channel unprecedented energy into observation and experiment. In times of climate extremes, novel diseases and rapidly advancing technology, Strevens contends that we need more than ever to grasp the inner workings of our knowledge machine.   'A stylish and accessible investigation into the nature of the scientific method' Nigel Warburton, Philosophy Bites 'This elegant book takes us to the heart of the scientific enterprise' David Papineau, King's College London, author of Knowing the Score 'This book is a delight to read, richly illustrated with wonderfully told incidents from the history of natural science' Nancy Cartwright, University of California San Diego","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50180305715473,"sku":"GOR013399035","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50320963240209,"sku":"GOR010806800","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0241205778.jpg?v=1751258822"},{"product_id":"knowledge-machine-book-michael-strevens-9781324091080","title":"The Knowledge Machine","description":"Michael Strevens’s “provocative and fascinating” (Jennifer Szalai, New York Times) investigation of science asks two fundamental questions: Why is science so powerful? And why did it take so long for the human race to start using science to learn the secrets of nature? The Knowledge Machine’s radical answer is that science, by nature, calls on its practitioners to do the irrational. By willfully ignoring religion, theoretical beauty, and especially philosophy, scientists embrace an unnaturally narrow method of inquiry, channeling unprecedented energy into observation and experimentation. Rich with vivid historical examples and widely acclaimed, Knowledge Machine overturns many of our most basic assumptions about scientific discovery.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50379871846673,"sku":"CIN1324091088VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51164062023953,"sku":"NIN9781324091080","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51379135676689,"sku":"GOR014246996","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":52106024190225,"sku":"CIN1324091088A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52106026713361,"sku":"CIN1324091088G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1324091088.jpg?v=1750755185"},{"product_id":"knowledge-machine-book-michael-strevens-9781631491375","title":"The Knowledge Machine","description":"The Knowledge Machine is the most stunningly illuminating book of the last several decades regarding the all-important scientific enterprise. Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of Plato at the Googleplex   A paradigm-shifting work, The Knowledge Machine revolutionizes our understanding of the origins and structure of science.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":50466978988305,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50466979447057,"sku":"CIN1631491377G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51739047854353,"sku":"CIN1631491377VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51885915570449,"sku":"GOR011431046","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52692631126289,"sku":"NIN9781631491375","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1631491377.jpg?v=1750721116"},{"product_id":"thinking-off-your-feet-book-michael-strevens-9780674986527","title":"Thinking Off Your Feet","description":"In an original defense of armchair philosophy, Michael Strevens seeks to restore philosophy to its traditional position as an essential part of the quest for knowledge, by reshaping debates about the nature of philosophical thinking. His approach explores experimental philosophy's methodological implications and the cognitive science of concepts.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52099576561937,"sku":"CIN0674986520VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780674986527.jpg?v=1757086467"},{"product_id":"tychomancy-book-michael-strevens-9780674073111","title":"Tychomancy","description":"Michael Strevens makes three claims about rules for inferring physical probability. They are reliable. They constitute a key part of the physical intuition that allows us to navigate the world safely in the absence of scientific knowledge. 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