Lawrence Sklar’s View of Philosophy of Science

As a branch of philosophy, philosophy of science focuses on the nature of science, the formation of scientific knowledge, and the interpretation of scientific theories. Lawrence Sklar has made significant contributions to this field. He argues that scientific theories contain many metaphysical elements, which are not derived from empirical science but are presupposed when constructing theories, thus the objectivity of scientific theories is doubtful. Therefore, Sklar advocates that scientists and philosophers should view the assumptions behind scientific theories more cautiously.

Sklar explores the nature of time and space. He believes that answering this question requires both philosophical thinking and connection with physics, neither of which can be neglected. He discusses four main issues: our understanding of geometry, the view of entity discovery or relational determination about the spacetime, the relationship between the order of time and the order of causality, and the direction of time. Sklar emphasizes that “although they are treated chapter by chapter, they are not, of course, totally independent problems.” That is, these issues share common philosophical concerns, such as the nature of space and time, how they interact with the material world, and how we should understand their role in physics. Sklar doesn’t approach these issues in a “purely philosophical” manner because he believes that one cannot do good philosophy without relying upon the results of scientific theorization, and similarly, the acceptance or rejection of specific scientific theories depends as much upon the adoption of specific philosophical presuppositions as it does upon the evidence of observation and experimentation. Sklar fully demonstrates that “science and philosophy are interdependent.”

Sklar presents the theory of foundations of statistical mechanics. He mainly focuses on what are the principles of statistical mechanics, how can these principles be used to derive the basic laws of thermodynamics, and to what extent can these principles be derived from the basic laws of general motion and dynamics theory. To illustrate these issues, He discusses probability, statistical explanation, equilibrium issues, and non-equilibrium issues, aiming to provide a primary, comprehensive, and organized exposition of the basic physical and philosophical issues of statistical mechanics, introducing this field to philosophers and scientists who want to understand key debates. He argues that statistical mechanics, general relativity, quantum theory, and fundamental particle theory constitute the four fundamental theories for understanding the physical world. General relativity modifies and generalizes the spatiotemporal framework for all physical phenomena, quantum theory provides rules for the dynamic evolution of system states under causal influence, and fundamental particle theory describes the specific properties of material in its most primitive and basic form of existence. Unlike these theories, statistical mechanics doesn’t have a single, smoothly stated theory but is more like a hodgepodge of methods, expressions, and schools of thought.

Sklar’s truth theory has a significant impact on the development of philosophy of science. His basic idea is that science and philosophy are interdependent and inseparable. Sklar criticizes the view that scientific theories provide a true picture of the objective world. He tests three skeptical views and affirms their importance. These skepticisms are: The interpretive issues raised by the problem of the unobservable ontology of theories, the theories being applicable only in an idealized context; and the transience of scientific theories in the history of changing theories, with even the best current theories expected to be replaced in the future. Sklar discusses these three skeptical arguments, demonstrating how philosophical critique is used within science, and revealing their differences in specific scientific and abstract philosophical contexts. Through a series of rigorous arguments, he provides answers to major questions in methodological philosophy of science, emphasizing the introduction of philosophical speculative thinking into the construction of scientific theories, and arguing that this is very important for the development of the scientific enterprise.

It is not difficult to see Sklar’s rigorous attitude towards verifying the rationality of scientific theories. Sklar’s view of philosophy of science has had a profound impact on understanding the nature of scientific theories and the philosophical foundations of scientific practice.

Sklar’s representative works include Space, Time and Spacetime (awarded the Matchette Prize from the American Philosophical Association as the outstanding Philosophical book for 1973-1974), Philosophy and Spacetime Physics (1985), Philosophy of Physics (1992), Physics and Chance: Philosophical Issues in the Foundations of Statistical Mechanics (awarded the Lakatos Prize in philosophy of science for 1995), Theory and Truth: Philosophical Critique Within Foundational Science (translated into Chinese by Lei Ma in 2014), and Philosophy and the Foundations of Dynamics (2013).

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Lawrence Sklar was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1938 and educated at Oberlin College (B.A.,1954-1958) and Princeton University (M.A., Ph.D.,1959-1964) where he worked with Hilary Putnam. Since 1968, he has been at the University of Michigan, where he is now a Distinguished University Professor Emeritus. He is the editor of Philosophy of Science: Collected Papers (2000) and of Physical Theory: Method and Interpretation (2014). Sklar has also published numerous articles on such topics as the nature of theories, structures for rational belief, inter-theoretic reduction, the philosophy of space and time and philosophical issues in statistical mechanics. He has held fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Science Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He delivered the John Locke Lectures in Philosophy at Oxford University in 1997-98 and has been a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College in Oxford. He is a past president of the American Philosophical Association, Central Division and is a past President of the Philosophy of Science Association.

This work was sponsored by financial support from Social Science Fund of University of South China (Grant No. 5524GC007).

No conflict of interest.