Historical and philosophical dimensions of logic, methodology and philosophy of science (Book Review).

Michael Frede's essay on the origins of traditional grammar is a superb display of unpretentious erudition. It should remain the classic brief account of the creation of the very concept of grammar that has from time to time played such a central role in Western intellectual life. I t establishes the place of Stoic writers in transmitting and enriching this growing tradition. Frede's paper is a careful marshalling of difficult historical data; at an opposite extreme is John Earman's discussion of Leibnizian space-time. This is a rather brilliant use of sophisticated, present-day algebra to bring out the content of some of Leibniz's tantalizing speculations. On more familiar topics, W. R. Shea considers current opinion on a topic about which so many diverse views have been urged: Galileo's use of experiment and theory. He provides a plausible sketch of a Galileo who is neither all experiment nor all hypothesis. Laurens Laudan describes the varying fortunes of the hypothetic-deductive method itself, particularly emphasizing how it was for a time over-whelmed by inductivism, but rediscovered in the nineteenth century. The writings of speculative scientists provide the origins of modem methodological debates, and Laudan derides philosophers whose theory of science is not based on a close reading of past science and metascience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]