Peter Lipton
Peter Lipton ( born October 9, 1954 in New York City; † November 25, 2007 in Cambridge ) was an American philosopher of science. Besides various contributions to the philosophy of science, the epistemology and other philosophical disciplines Lipton was particularly known for his elaborations to conclusions to the best explanation.
Biography
Lipton studied physics and philosophy at Wesleyan University and at Oxford. His Ph.D. he acquired in 1985 in Oxford with a thesis on scientific evidence and explanations. From 1985 to 1990 he was assistant professor at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. In 1991 he came to the Faculty of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge, in 1994 there lecturer and dean in 1996; besides, he was a Fellow at King 's College.
Lipton organized in Cambridge a reading group on issues of epistemology modeled on the discussion circle around Alfred Jules Ayer at Oxford, which he had visited. Both in his faculty as outside of it brought Lipton philosophical discussions close to a wider public. For example, he is also known for his contributions on the website AskPhilosophers.org. His lectures and seminars were characterized by high clarity and exceptional sense of humor.
Lipton lived with his wife Diana and their two sons, Jonah and Jacob. He considered himself a " religious atheist", the Jewish ways of life followed and were helpful in moral life issues recourse to Jewish teachings, although he did not believe in metaphysical religious teachings, especially not in the existence of God.
His major work, Inference to the Best Explanation ( first edition 1991) is a full- scale attempt to explain our rational inferential. Here Lipton understands as " best explanation ", which promoted our understanding most. Correct predictions of a theory give a higher degree of inductive confirmation as the integration of new data. Other important contributions Lipton discuss the nature of causal explanations of justification by hearsay and scientific testing methods and scientific theory change. Lipton developed a novel form of scientific realism. He also devoted himself topics from the fields of philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind ( among other mental contents and the mind - body problem ) and Bioethics ( 2003, he gave the report Pharmacogenetics: Ethical Issues out ) and the history of the problem of induction. At the latter he was working on a monograph entitled The Humean Predicament, which has remained unfinished.
Lipton died unexpectedly in November 2007 after a squash game.
Publications (selection )
- Inference to the Best Explanation, London: Routledge Chapman & Hall, 2nd ed, 2004, ISBN 0-415-24202-9