Scientific Thinking, Second Edition
Scientific Thinking, Second Edition
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  • Publication Date: May 31, 2025
  • ISBN: 9781554816521 / 1554816521
  • 360 pages; 6" x 9"

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Scientific Thinking, Second Edition

  • Publication Date: May 31, 2025
  • ISBN: 9781554816521 / 1554816521
  • 360 pages; 6" x 9"

Scientific Thinking is a lively and practical guide to scientific reasoning. It provides comprehensive coverage of such topics as inductive reasoning, confirmation, demarcation, sampling, correlations, causality, hypotheses, experimental methods, and the role of values in science. These difficult topics are presented in an engaging way that clarifies rather than confounds, making for a student reading experience that is both enlightening and enjoyable. Drawing examples from both from the history of science as well as more modern scientific work, the book helps students recognize the ongoing importance of developing good habits of scientific thinking. Questions and exercises are interspersed throughout the text to encourage students to actively reflect on and engage with new concepts and key cases as they arise in the book.

Chapter 0: Not Your Usual Introduction

PART I: Induction, Proportions, Correlations

  • Chapter 1: Galileo and Mrs. Smith
  • Chapter 2: Induction, Deduction, Confirmation
  • Chapter 3: Science and Pseudoscience
  • Chapter 4: Sampling
  • Chapter 5: Samples
  • Chapter 6: Imprecision and Confidence Level
  • Chapter 7: Statistical Relations
  • Chapter 8: Correlations Described
  • Chapter 9: Correlations Calculated

PART II: Explanations

  • Chapter 10: Explanations Explained
  • Chapter 11: Problems with the D-N Model
  • Chapter 12: Hypotheses and Explanations
  • Chapter 13: Two Strategies for Hypothesizing
  • Chapter 14: Disconfirming Hypotheses
  • Chapter 15: Empiricism Revisited
  • Chapter 16: Categories

PART III: Causes

  • Chapter 17: Seeing Causes
  • Chapter 18: Causal Relations
  • Chapter 19: Causal Complications
  • Chapter 20: Experimental Confirmation
  • Chapter 21: Experimental Procedures
  • Chapter 22: Non-Experimental Methods
  • Chapter 23: Objectivity, Values, and the Truth

Index

Robert M. Martin is Professor of Philosophy (retired) at Dalhousie University and author of many books, including Philosophical Conversations and the best-seller There Are Two Errors in the the Title of This Book.

Archie Fields III is Philosophy Editor at Broadview Press.

  • • Thoroughly revised text, including new examples, a more concise introduction to statistical inference, and updated material on scientific explanation.
  • • New chapters on demarcating science from pseudoscience and on objectivity and the role of values in science.
  • • Expanded discussion of models and modeling in science, including the use of computer simulations.
  • • Updated questions and exercises embedded within the chapters encourage active thinking while reading.
  • • Suggested readings at the end of each chapter provide students and instructors with resources for further study.

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