James W Mcallister
Biographic Data
| ID | 973292 |
|---|---|
| NAME | James W Mcallister |
| GIVEN NAMES | James W |
| FAMILY NAME | Mcallister |
| SIGNATURE | MCALLISTER J W |
| AFFILIATIONS | Leiden University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 46 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1986 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Common sense and the difference between natural and human sciences
This article proposes a new account of the relation between the sciences and common sense. A debate between Alfred North Whitehead and Arthur S. Eddington highlighted both the tendency of the natural sciences to repudiate commonsense conceptions of the world and the greater closeness of the human sciences to common sense. While analytic writers have mostly regarded these features as self-evident, I offer an explanation of them by appealing to Wil…
Does Artistic Value Pose a Special Problem for Time Travel Theories
Michael Dummett and Storrs McCall have claimed that time travel scenarios in which an artist copies an artwork from a reproduction of it that has been sent from the future introduce a causal loop of a new kind: one involving artistic value. They have suggested that this poses a hitherto unacknowledged challenge to time travel theories. I argue that their conclusion depends on some unstated essentialist assumptions about metaphysics of art and the…
Scientists’ Reuse of Old Empirical Data
This article investigates epistemological aspects of scientists’ reuse of empirical data over decades and centuries. Giving examples, I discuss three respects in which empirical data are historical entities and the implications for the notion of data reuse. First, any data reuse necessitates metadata, which specify the data’s circumstances of origin. Second, interpretation of historical data often requires the tools of humanities disciplines, whi…
Using History as Evidence in Philosophy of Science
This article offers a critical review of past attempts and possible methods to test philosophical models of science against evidence from history of science. Drawing on methodological debates in social science, I distinguish between quantitative and qualitative approaches. I show that both have their uses in history and philosophy of science, but that many writers in this domain have misunderstood and misapplied these approaches, and especially t…
Methodological dilemmas and emotion in science
Climate Science Controversies and the Demand for Access to Empirical Data
In this article, I discuss calls for access to empirical data within controversies about climate science, as revealed and highlighted by the publication of the e-mail correspondence involving scientists at the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in 2009. I identify several arguments advanced for and against the sharing of scientific data. My conclusions are that, whereas transparency in science is to be valued, appeals to an u…
What do patterns in empirical data tell us about the structure of the world
This article discusses the relation between features of empirical data and structures in the world. I defend the following claims. Any empirical data set exhibits all possible patterns, each with a certain noise term. The magnitude and other properties of this noise term are irrelevant to the evidential status of a pattern: all patterns exhibited in empirical data constitute evidence of structures in the world. Furthermore, distinct patterns cons…
The Ontology of Patterns in Empirical Data
This article defends the following claims. First, for patterns exhibited in empirical data, there is no criterion on which to demarcate patterns that are physically significant and patterns that are not physically significant. I call a pattern physically significant if it corresponds to a structure in the world. Second, all patterns must be regarded as physically significant. Third, distinct patterns must be regarded as providing evidence for dis…
Model Selection and the Multiplicity of Patterns in Empirical Data
Several quantitative techniques for choosing among data models are available. Among these are techniques based on algorithmic information theory, minimum description length theory, and the Akaike information criterion. All these techniques are designed to identify a single model of a data set as being the closest to the truth. I argue, using examples, that many data sets in science show multiple patterns, providing evidence for multiple phenomena…
Die Rhetorik der Mühelosigkeit in der Wissenschaft und ihre barocken Ursprünge
Algorithmic compression of empirical data
Thought Experiments and the Belief in Phenomena
Thought experiment acquires evidential significance only on particular metaphysical assumptions. These include the thesis that science aims at uncovering “phenomena”—universal and stable modes in which the world is articulated—and the thesis that phenomena are revealed imperfectly in actual occurrences. Only on these Platonically inspired assumptions does it make sense to bypass experience of actual occurrences and perform thought experiments. Th…
Algorithmic randomness in empirical data
Effective Complexity as a Measure of Information Content
Murray Gell-Mann has proposed the concept of effective complexity as a measure of information content. The effective complexity of a string of digits is defined as the algorithmic complexity of the regular component of the string. This paper argues that the effective complexity of a given string is not uniquely determined. The effective complexity of a string admitting a physical interpretation, such as an empirical data set, depends on the cogni…
Fearful Symmetry
Universal Regularities And Initial Conditions In Newtonian Physics
Author’s response
Beauty and Revolution in Science
Laws of nature, natural history, and the description of the world
The modern sciences are divided into two groups: law‐formulating and natural historical sciences. Sciences of both groups aim at describing the world, but they do so differently. Whereas the natural historical sciences produce “transcriptions” intended to be literally true of actual occurrences, laws of nature are expressive symbols of aspects of the world. The relationship between laws and the world thus resembles that between the symbols of cla…
The evidential significance of thought experiment in science
Competition Among Scientific Disciplines in Cold Nuclear Fusion Research
The Argument In the controversy in 1989 over the reported achievement of cold nuclear fusion, parts of the physics and chemistry communities were opposed in both a theoretic and a professional competition. Physicists saw the chemists' announcement as an incursion into territory allocated to their own discipline and strove to restore the interdisciplinary boundaries that had previously held. The events that followed throw light on the manner in wh…
Scientists' Aesthetic Judgements
Journal Article SCIENTISTS' AESTHETIC JUDGEMENTS Get access James W. McAllister James W. McAllister Faculty of Philosophy, University of LeidenP.O. Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The British Journal of Aesthetics, Volume 31, Issue 4, October 1991, Pages 332–341, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjaesthetics/31.4.332 Published: 01 October 1991
Truth and beauty in scientific reason
Theory-Assessment in the Historiography of Science
This paper argues that evaluation of the truth and rationality of past scientific theories is both possible and profitable. The motivation for this enterprise is traced to recent discussions by I. Lakatos, L. Laudan and others on the import of history for the philosophy of science; several objections to it are considered and T. S. Kuhn is found to advance the most substantive. An argument for establishing judgements of rationality and truth in th…
Model Selection and the Multiplicity of Patterns in Empirical Data
Several quantitative techniques for choosing among data models are available. Among these are techniques based on algorithmic information theory, minimum description length theory, and the Akaike information criterion. All these techniques are designed to identify a single model of a data set as being the closest to the truth. I argue, using examples, that many data sets in science show multiple patterns, providing evidence for multiple phenomena…
Algorithmic randomness in empirical data
The evidential significance of thought experiment in science
What do patterns in empirical data tell us about the structure of the world
This article discusses the relation between features of empirical data and structures in the world. I defend the following claims. Any empirical data set exhibits all possible patterns, each with a certain noise term. The magnitude and other properties of this noise term are irrelevant to the evidential status of a pattern: all patterns exhibited in empirical data constitute evidence of structures in the world. Furthermore, distinct patterns cons…
Thought Experiments and the Belief in Phenomena
Thought experiment acquires evidential significance only on particular metaphysical assumptions. These include the thesis that science aims at uncovering “phenomena”—universal and stable modes in which the world is articulated—and the thesis that phenomena are revealed imperfectly in actual occurrences. Only on these Platonically inspired assumptions does it make sense to bypass experience of actual occurrences and perform thought experiments. Th…
Effective Complexity as a Measure of Information Content
Murray Gell-Mann has proposed the concept of effective complexity as a measure of information content. The effective complexity of a string of digits is defined as the algorithmic complexity of the regular component of the string. This paper argues that the effective complexity of a given string is not uniquely determined. The effective complexity of a string admitting a physical interpretation, such as an empirical data set, depends on the cogni…
Truth and beauty in scientific reason
Using History as Evidence in Philosophy of Science
This article offers a critical review of past attempts and possible methods to test philosophical models of science against evidence from history of science. Drawing on methodological debates in social science, I distinguish between quantitative and qualitative approaches. I show that both have their uses in history and philosophy of science, but that many writers in this domain have misunderstood and misapplied these approaches, and especially t…
The Ontology of Patterns in Empirical Data
This article defends the following claims. First, for patterns exhibited in empirical data, there is no criterion on which to demarcate patterns that are physically significant and patterns that are not physically significant. I call a pattern physically significant if it corresponds to a structure in the world. Second, all patterns must be regarded as physically significant. Third, distinct patterns must be regarded as providing evidence for dis…
Scientists’ Reuse of Old Empirical Data
This article investigates epistemological aspects of scientists’ reuse of empirical data over decades and centuries. Giving examples, I discuss three respects in which empirical data are historical entities and the implications for the notion of data reuse. First, any data reuse necessitates metadata, which specify the data’s circumstances of origin. Second, interpretation of historical data often requires the tools of humanities disciplines, whi…
Methodological dilemmas and emotion in science
Laws of nature, natural history, and the description of the world
The modern sciences are divided into two groups: law‐formulating and natural historical sciences. Sciences of both groups aim at describing the world, but they do so differently. Whereas the natural historical sciences produce “transcriptions” intended to be literally true of actual occurrences, laws of nature are expressive symbols of aspects of the world. The relationship between laws and the world thus resembles that between the symbols of cla…
Scientists' Aesthetic Judgements
Journal Article SCIENTISTS' AESTHETIC JUDGEMENTS Get access James W. McAllister James W. McAllister Faculty of Philosophy, University of LeidenP.O. Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The British Journal of Aesthetics, Volume 31, Issue 4, October 1991, Pages 332–341, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjaesthetics/31.4.332 Published: 01 October 1991
Theory-Assessment in the Historiography of Science
This paper argues that evaluation of the truth and rationality of past scientific theories is both possible and profitable. The motivation for this enterprise is traced to recent discussions by I. Lakatos, L. Laudan and others on the import of history for the philosophy of science; several objections to it are considered and T. S. Kuhn is found to advance the most substantive. An argument for establishing judgements of rationality and truth in th…
Theory-Assessment in the Historiography of Science
This paper argues that evaluation of the truth and rationality of past scientific theories is both possible and profitable. The motivation for this enterprise is traced to recent discussions by I. Lakatos, L. Laudan and others on the import of history for the philosophy of science; several objections to it are considered and T. S. Kuhn is found to advance the most substantive. An argument for establishing judgements of rationality and truth in th…
Truth and beauty in scientific reason
Scientists' Aesthetic Judgements
Journal Article SCIENTISTS' AESTHETIC JUDGEMENTS Get access James W. McAllister James W. McAllister Faculty of Philosophy, University of LeidenP.O. Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The British Journal of Aesthetics, Volume 31, Issue 4, October 1991, Pages 332–341, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjaesthetics/31.4.332 Published: 01 October 1991
Competition Among Scientific Disciplines in Cold Nuclear Fusion Research
The Argument In the controversy in 1989 over the reported achievement of cold nuclear fusion, parts of the physics and chemistry communities were opposed in both a theoretic and a professional competition. Physicists saw the chemists' announcement as an incursion into territory allocated to their own discipline and strove to restore the interdisciplinary boundaries that had previously held. The events that followed throw light on the manner in wh…
The evidential significance of thought experiment in science
Laws of nature, natural history, and the description of the world
The modern sciences are divided into two groups: law‐formulating and natural historical sciences. Sciences of both groups aim at describing the world, but they do so differently. Whereas the natural historical sciences produce “transcriptions” intended to be literally true of actual occurrences, laws of nature are expressive symbols of aspects of the world. The relationship between laws and the world thus resembles that between the symbols of cla…
Author’s response
Beauty and Revolution in Science
Universal Regularities And Initial Conditions In Newtonian Physics
Fearful Symmetry
Algorithmic randomness in empirical data
Effective Complexity as a Measure of Information Content
Murray Gell-Mann has proposed the concept of effective complexity as a measure of information content. The effective complexity of a string of digits is defined as the algorithmic complexity of the regular component of the string. This paper argues that the effective complexity of a given string is not uniquely determined. The effective complexity of a string admitting a physical interpretation, such as an empirical data set, depends on the cogni…
Thought Experiments and the Belief in Phenomena
Thought experiment acquires evidential significance only on particular metaphysical assumptions. These include the thesis that science aims at uncovering “phenomena”—universal and stable modes in which the world is articulated—and the thesis that phenomena are revealed imperfectly in actual occurrences. Only on these Platonically inspired assumptions does it make sense to bypass experience of actual occurrences and perform thought experiments. Th…
Algorithmic compression of empirical data
Die Rhetorik der Mühelosigkeit in der Wissenschaft und ihre barocken Ursprünge
Model Selection and the Multiplicity of Patterns in Empirical Data
Several quantitative techniques for choosing among data models are available. Among these are techniques based on algorithmic information theory, minimum description length theory, and the Akaike information criterion. All these techniques are designed to identify a single model of a data set as being the closest to the truth. I argue, using examples, that many data sets in science show multiple patterns, providing evidence for multiple phenomena…
The Ontology of Patterns in Empirical Data
This article defends the following claims. First, for patterns exhibited in empirical data, there is no criterion on which to demarcate patterns that are physically significant and patterns that are not physically significant. I call a pattern physically significant if it corresponds to a structure in the world. Second, all patterns must be regarded as physically significant. Third, distinct patterns must be regarded as providing evidence for dis…
What do patterns in empirical data tell us about the structure of the world
This article discusses the relation between features of empirical data and structures in the world. I defend the following claims. Any empirical data set exhibits all possible patterns, each with a certain noise term. The magnitude and other properties of this noise term are irrelevant to the evidential status of a pattern: all patterns exhibited in empirical data constitute evidence of structures in the world. Furthermore, distinct patterns cons…
Climate Science Controversies and the Demand for Access to Empirical Data
In this article, I discuss calls for access to empirical data within controversies about climate science, as revealed and highlighted by the publication of the e-mail correspondence involving scientists at the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in 2009. I identify several arguments advanced for and against the sharing of scientific data. My conclusions are that, whereas transparency in science is to be valued, appeals to an u…
Methodological dilemmas and emotion in science
Scientists’ Reuse of Old Empirical Data
This article investigates epistemological aspects of scientists’ reuse of empirical data over decades and centuries. Giving examples, I discuss three respects in which empirical data are historical entities and the implications for the notion of data reuse. First, any data reuse necessitates metadata, which specify the data’s circumstances of origin. Second, interpretation of historical data often requires the tools of humanities disciplines, whi…
Using History as Evidence in Philosophy of Science
This article offers a critical review of past attempts and possible methods to test philosophical models of science against evidence from history of science. Drawing on methodological debates in social science, I distinguish between quantitative and qualitative approaches. I show that both have their uses in history and philosophy of science, but that many writers in this domain have misunderstood and misapplied these approaches, and especially t…
Does Artistic Value Pose a Special Problem for Time Travel Theories
Michael Dummett and Storrs McCall have claimed that time travel scenarios in which an artist copies an artwork from a reproduction of it that has been sent from the future introduce a causal loop of a new kind: one involving artistic value. They have suggested that this poses a hitherto unacknowledged challenge to time travel theories. I argue that their conclusion depends on some unstated essentialist assumptions about metaphysics of art and the…
Common sense and the difference between natural and human sciences
This article proposes a new account of the relation between the sciences and common sense. A debate between Alfred North Whitehead and Arthur S. Eddington highlighted both the tendency of the natural sciences to repudiate commonsense conceptions of the world and the greater closeness of the human sciences to common sense. While analytic writers have mostly regarded these features as self-evident, I offer an explanation of them by appealing to Wil…
Philosophy (19 works) · Epistemology (18 works) · Computer Science (14 works) · Philosophy and History of Science (10 works) · Mathematics (9 works) · Philosophy of science (9 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Artificial Intelligence (5 works) · Metaphysics (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works)