Cosmology and convention

I argue that some important elements of the current cosmological model are 'conventionalist’ in the sense defined by Karl Popper. These elements include dark matter and dark energy; both are auxiliary hypotheses that were invoked in response to observations that falsified the standard model as it existed at the time. The use of conventionalist stratagems in response to unexpected observations implies that the field of cosmology is in a state of 'degenerating problemshift’ in the language of Imre Lakatos. I show that the 'concordance’ argument, often put forward by cosmologists in support of the current paradigm, is weaker than the convergence arguments that were made in the past in support of the atomic theory of matter or the quantization of energy.     

研究纲领与西方经济学方法论

本文介绍拉卡托斯的科学研究纲领方法论在西方经济学方法论的发展过程中出现的一些问题。首先是拉卡托斯的科学研究纲领方法论成为经济学方法论的情人，然后是经济学家们对科学研究纲领方法论进行的诸多批评。面对这些批评，经济学家对待研究纲领有着十分不同的态度。     

"后基础主义"时代数学哲学研究的若干趋势——从波普尔、拉卡托斯到P.欧内斯特

数学基础主义之后,批判理性主义和经验主义(包括拟经验主义)成为某些数学哲学家热衷的选择。虽然对柏拉图主义和实在论有某种解构价值,但两者却混淆了数学与其他科学的本质区别。相比较而言,关于数学的社会建构主义观点虽然有不少真知灼见,但却陷入了某种形式的单一决定论的泥潭。     

The ‘Popperian Programme’ and mathematics: Part II: From quasi-empiricism to mathematical research Programmes

In the first part of this article I investigated the Popperian roots of Lakatos's Proofs and Refutations, which was an attempt to apply, and thereby to test, Popper's theory of knowledge in a field—mathematics—to which it had not primarily been intended to apply. While Popper's theory of knowledge stood up gloriously to this test, the new application gave rise to new insights into the heuristic of mathematical development, which necessitated further clarification and improvement of some Popperian methodological maxims. In the present part I analyze this second phase in the development of Lakatos's Popperian programme in mathematics, and its connection to the methodology of scientific research programmes.     

拉卡托斯的"研究纲领"和经济学方法论

拉卡托斯对波普尔思想和库恩思想的“有效”综合使其成为对经济学家有吸引力的人物。他的“科学研究纲领方法论”在经济学中得到最多关注的两个方法论特征是特定研究纲领的结构和评价。把拉卡托斯的方法论作为评价各种经济学研究纲领的工具,面临许多分歧和国境,但它确实有助于理解经济学或特定经济理论的结构。     

试论科学理性的限制

通过对波普尔、拉卡托斯、库恩三位哲学家的科学哲学理论来讨论科学理性的限制。这种限制来自主客观两个方面 ,是不可避免的 ,限制是超越的起点     

What is a Definition?

According to the standard view of definition, all defined terms are mere stipulations, based on a small set of primitive terms. After a brief review of the Hilbert-Frege debate, this paper goes on to challenge the standard view in a number of ways. Examples from graph theory, for example, suggest that some key definitions stem from the way graphs are presented diagramatically and do not fit the standard view. Lakatos's account is also discussed, since he provides further examples that suggest many definitions are much more than mere convenient abbreviations. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.