Ronald Giere
Encyclopedia
Ronald Giere is an American philosopher of science who is an emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of Minnesota
. He is a Fellow of The AAAS
, a long-time member of the editorial board of the journal Philosophy of Science, and a past president of the Philosophy of Science Association. His current research focuses on agent-based accounts of models and scientific representation, and on connections between naturalism and secularism.
In his book Scientific Perspectivism he develops a version of perspectival realism in which he argues that scientific descriptions are somewhat like colours, in that they capture only selected aspects of reality, and those aspects are not bits of the world seen as they are in themselves, but bits of the world seen from a distinctive human perspective. In addition to the color example, Giere articulates his perspectivism by appeal to maps and to his own earlier and influential work on scientific models. Maps represent the world, but the representations they provide are conventional, affected by interest, and never fully accurate or complete. Similarly, scientific models are idealized structures that represent the world from particular and limited points of view. According to Giere, what goes for colors, maps, and models goes generally: science is perspectival through and through.
He has also edited several volumes of papers in the philosophy of science, including, most recently, Cognitive Models of Science (1992) and Origins of Logical Empiricism (1996).
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
. He is a Fellow of The AAAS
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...
, a long-time member of the editorial board of the journal Philosophy of Science, and a past president of the Philosophy of Science Association. His current research focuses on agent-based accounts of models and scientific representation, and on connections between naturalism and secularism.
In his book Scientific Perspectivism he develops a version of perspectival realism in which he argues that scientific descriptions are somewhat like colours, in that they capture only selected aspects of reality, and those aspects are not bits of the world seen as they are in themselves, but bits of the world seen from a distinctive human perspective. In addition to the color example, Giere articulates his perspectivism by appeal to maps and to his own earlier and influential work on scientific models. Maps represent the world, but the representations they provide are conventional, affected by interest, and never fully accurate or complete. Similarly, scientific models are idealized structures that represent the world from particular and limited points of view. According to Giere, what goes for colors, maps, and models goes generally: science is perspectival through and through.
Publications
In addition to many papers in the philosophy of science, he is the author of:- Understanding Scientific Reasoning (5th ed 2006);
- Explaining Science: A Cognitive Approach (1988)
- Science Without Laws (1999)
- Scientific Perspectivism(2006), Chicago, University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226292120
He has also edited several volumes of papers in the philosophy of science, including, most recently, Cognitive Models of Science (1992) and Origins of Logical Empiricism (1996).