Exceeding our grasp : science, history, and the problem of unconceived alternatives / P. Kyle Stanford.

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2006.

xiv, 234 pages ; 25 cm

Includes bibliographical references (p. 215-221) and index.

Realism, pessimism, and underdetermination -- Chasing Duhem: the problem of unconceived alternatives -- Darwin and pangenesis: the search for the material basis of generation and heredity -- Galton and the stirp theory -- August Weismann's theory of the germ-plasm -- History revisited: Pyrrhic victories for scientific realism -- Selective confirmation and the historical record: "another such victory over the Romans"? -- Science without realism?