My Slashdot Review of The Logical Leap
On January 10, the technical blog Slashdot published my review of David Harriman's book The Logical Leap: Induction in Physics. Harriman's book is a landmark in the philosophy of science, and it deserves a wide audience. You can read my review at my website here.
I haven't had the time or energy to carefully follow the various controversies over the criticisms of the book (such as in the reader reviews at amazon.com); hopefully at some point in the future, I will have the time to do so.
Due to the essentialized nature of the book, the presentations of the history of science were highly condensed, and I can see how historians of science might object to the degree of simplification. Hopefully the ideas in Harriman's book will be further developed and applied in more detailed studies, providing the material for many future books.
I haven't had the time or energy to carefully follow the various controversies over the criticisms of the book (such as in the reader reviews at amazon.com); hopefully at some point in the future, I will have the time to do so.
Due to the essentialized nature of the book, the presentations of the history of science were highly condensed, and I can see how historians of science might object to the degree of simplification. Hopefully the ideas in Harriman's book will be further developed and applied in more detailed studies, providing the material for many future books.