Ian Hacking
Ian Hacking
Ian MacDougall Hacking, born February 18, 1936, is a Canadian philosopher specializing in the philosophy of science. Throughout his career, he has won numerous awards, such as the Killam Prize for the Humanities and the Balzan Prize, and been a member of many prestigious groups, including the Order of Canada, the Royal Society of Canada and the British Academy...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth18 February 1936
CountryCanada
important able moral
The important thing is to be able to understand anyone who has something useful to say. - There is a general moral here. Be very careful and very clear about what you say. But do not be dogmatic about your own language. Be prepared to express any careful thought in the language your audience will understand. And be prepared to learn from someone who talks a language with which you are not familiar.
people science stories
I think it's unfortunate when people say that there is just one true story of science. For one thing, there are many different sciences, and historians will tell different stories corresponding to different things.
I'm a dilettante. My governing word is 'curiosity.'
science reality ontology
Experimental work provides the strongest evidence for scientific realism. This is not because we test hypotheses about entities. It is because entities that in principle cannot be 'observed' are manipulated to produce a new phenomena [sic] and to investigate other aspects of nature.
people bombs killing
If you were just intent on killing people you could do better with a bomb made of agricultural fertiliser.
mean science thinking
Thers is this wonderful iconoclast at Rutgers, Doron Zeilberger, who says that our mathematics is the result of a random walk, by which he means what WE call mathematics. Likewise, I think, for the sciences.
commitment mean acceptance
Acceptance means commitment, among other things.
player odds games
The bad player is the one who tries to calculate and play with the odds, as if his game, his life, were one of a large number of games. To do so is at best to succumb to another necessity, the necessity of large numbers. The good player does not fool himself, and accepts that there is exactly one chance, which produces by chance the necessity and even the purpose that he experiences.
doing-nothing settling cases
In each case you settle on an act. Doing nothing at all counts as an act.
people plutonium made
Plutonium has a quite extraordinary relationship with people. They made it, and it kills them.
philosophy thinking finals
The final arbitrator in philosophy is not how we think but what we do.
math science house
Why should there be the method of science? There is not just one way to build a house, or even to grow tomatoes. We should not expect something as motley as the growth of knowledge to be strapped to one methodology.
philosopher modern claims
Many modern philosophers claim that probability is relation between an hypothesis and the evidence for it.
opinion medieval companion
Opinion is the companion of probability within the medieval epistemology.