Michel Ghins: 

Scientific Realism and Laws of Nature:  

A Metaphysics of Causal Powers

 This book addresses central issues in the philosophy and metaphysics of science, namely

the nature of scientific theories, their partial truth, and the necessity of scientific laws within a moderate realist and empiricist perspective. Accordingly, good arguments in favour of the existence of unobservable entities postulated by our best theories, such as electrons, must be inductively grounded on perceptual experience and not their explanatory power as most defenders of scientific realism claim. Similarly, belief in the reality of dispositions such as causal powers which ground the natural necessity of scientific laws must be based on experience. Hence, this book offers a synthetic presentation of an original metaphysics of science, namely a metaphysics of properties, both categorical and dispositional, while at the same time opposing strong versions of necessitarism according to which laws are true in all possible worlds.

The main theses and arguments are clearly presented in a non-technical way. Thus, on top of being of interest to the specialists of the topics discussed, it is also useful as a textbook in courses for third year and more advanced university students.

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Published in 2024.

Fabio Minazzi: 

On Epistemology, Objectivity and Axiological Neutrality in Science 

This book seeks to critically overcome the traditional dichotomy introduced by the empiricist tradition between knowledge and values. To do so, it refers to the composite tradition of European critical rationalism inaugurated by Kant and matured with the lesson of Husserl's phenomenology.
The book illustrates a normativist and transcendentalist conception of knowledge, showing its value
as well as its limits. The book is addressed to scholars, teachers and people interested in developing a new image of scientific knowledge without forgetting the role and importance of axiology for the life of all people.
Published in 2023  

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Mauro Dorato: 

Science and Representative Democracy  

This enlarged English-language translation of Disinformazione Scientifica e Democrazia, Cortina, Milan, argues that the advancement of science depends on an exponential process of specialization, accompanied by the creation of technical languages that are less and less accessible to the general public. The book reveals how such a process must align with representative forms of democracies, in which knowledge and decision-making are pyramided in terms of the general interest. Despite being based on the principle of competence, the role of experts as mediators of scientific knowledge threatens the autonomy of the citizen and calls for new ways to increase the level of literacy about science and its philosophical and probabilistic foundations, thereby avoiding the risks of technocracies. Using an opposition between pluralism and conformism, Science and Representative Democracy reveals the obstacles to the functioning of both science and democracy.
Published in 2023  

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