Instrumental Reasoning and Systems Methodology

1 Introduction.- 1.1 Do Scientists Need Epistemology?.- 1.2 Towards a Philosophy of Applied Science.- 1.3 Management Science and the Philosophy of Applied Science.- 1.4 Conclusion.- 2 Systems Analysis as a Tool of Philosophical Investigation.- 2.1 In Need of an Expanded Analytical Superstructure.- 2.2 The Essence of the Systems Approach.- 2.21 Alternative and Complementary Attempts.- 2.22 General Characteristics.- 2.23 The System Boundaries.- 2.3 Incorporating and Externalizing Value Judgements.- 2.4 The Method of Neutralizing Systems.- 2.5 Management Science as a System: Normative or Positive?.- 2.6 Reduction of Value Judgements.- 2.7 Institutionalized Facts as Values.- 2.8 Institutions as Systems.- 3 Philosophy and Evolution of Logic from a Systems Point of View.- 3.1 Some Ontological Considerations.- 3.2 On the Nature of Logic.- 3.21 Relation to the Mind-Body Problem.- 3.22 Analytical and Normative Aspects of Logic.- 3.23 The Origin of Formal Logic.- 3.24 The Hierarchy of Semantics and Logic.- 3.25 Naming and Meaning.- 3.3 Historical Development of Modern Logic.- 3.31 The Advent of Boolean Algebra.- 3.32 Mathematicians' Contributions to Logic.- 3.33 The Logistic Thesis of Mathematics.- 3.34 Principia Mathematica.- 3.35 Paradoxes and the Axiom of Choice.- 3.36 Consistency and Godel's roof.- 3.4 Some Highlights in the Evolution of Semantics.- 3.41 From Ancient Times to the Twentieth Century.- 3.42 Carnap's and Tarski's Major Contributions.- 3.43 Wittgenstein's Two Philosophies.- 3.44 Recent Developments.- 4 Modern Deductive Logic.- 4.1 Sentence Logic or the Theory of Truth Functions.- 4.11 Sentence Connectives.- 4.12 Conditional Form versus Argument Form.- 4.13 Decidability and Formalization.- 4.14 Formalization of Sentence Logic: Sentence Calculi.- 4.2 Predicate Logic.- 4.21 Quantification.- 4.22 Valid Formulas.- 4.23 Russell's Theory of Description and Recent Reactions.- 4.3 Multivalued and Modal Logic.- 4.31 Lukasiewicz' any Valued Logic.- 4.32 Modal Logic.- 4.4 Imperative Arguments and Deontic Modalities.- 4.41 Imperative Inferences.- 4.42 Arguments with Mixed Premises.- 4.43 Deontic Inferences.- 5 The Controversy Around Inductive Logic.- 5.1 Essence and Early Evolution of Induction.- 5.2 Modern Views on Induction.- 5.21 Hume and the Sceptics.- 5.22 The Hypothetico-Deductive Approach and Popper's Falsificationism.- 5.23 Von Wright and Mill's Methods of Induction.- 5.24 Carnap and Theories of Confirmation.- 5.25 Von Mises, Reichenbach and others: the Frequentists' Approach to Induction.- 5.26 Russell and the Fostulational Approach.- 5.27 Uniformity of the Universe and Goodman's Paradox.- 5.3 Probability and Its Interpretation.- 5.31 Relative Frequency.- 5.32 Degree of Confirmation.- 5.33 Subjective Probability.- 5.4 Conclusion.- 6 Decision Theory and the Economists' Methodological Endeavors.- 6.1 An Appraisal of Carnap's Inductive Logic.- 6.2 Formal Decision Theory and Its Evolution.- 6.21 Early Beginnings and the Probabilistic Utility Notion.- 6.22 The Statisticians' Contributions.- 6.23 Principles of Rational Choice.- 6.24 Further Contributions by Philosophers and Economists.- 6.3 Information Economics as an Extension of Decision Theory.- 6.4 Episterno-Economics.- 6.41 On the Attitude of the Epistemologists.- 6.42 On the Attitude of Economists.- 6.43 What is the Essence of Epistemo-Economics?.- 6.44 Epistemo-Economics as an Extension of the Philosophy of Science.- 6.45 Information as Raw Material of Knowledge.- 6.5 Other Methodological Explorations by Economists.- 6.51 Positive versus Normative Economics.- 6.52 The Modem Dispute on Methodology.- 6.53 Stochastic and Holistic Aspects of Economics.- 7 Philosophy of Science and the Systems Approach.- 7.1 Introduction.- 7.2 Epistemology: The Received View.- 7.21 The Principles of Uncritical Empiricism.- 7.22 Refinements and Ultimate Version of Uncritical Empiricism.- 7.3 Reaction and Alternatives.- 7.31 The Normativistic Outlook.- 7.32 The Sneed-Stegmuller Synthesis.- 7.4 The Systems Approach, Its Criticism, and Its Potential.- 7.41 Normativists and System Theorists.- 7.42 Systems Research versus General System Theory.- 7.43 The Father of Systems Theory: Bogdanov or von Bertalanffy?.- 7.44 Ackoff's and Churchman's Contributions.- 7.45 Herbert Simon's Science of Design and Artificial Intelligence.- 7.5 Systems Approach as a Methodology.- 7.51 Georgescu-Roegen's New Version of Dialectics.- 7.52 A Modern Version of the Conflagration Hypothesis.- 7.53 Five On tological Assumptions of Systems Methodology.- 7.54 Relevance to Instrumental Reasoning.- Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Indices.- Some Journals of Philosophy, Applied and Social Sciences.- Index of Names.- Index of Subjects.