Department of History and Philosophy of Science

Peter Lipton

Professor Peter Lipton died suddenly of natural causes on the evening of Sunday 25 November 2007.

His funeral was held on 28 November 2007, and a memorial service was held on 2 November 2008.

Obituary: Professor Peter Lipton (1954–2007)

Selected publications

Peter Lipton
  • 'Wouldn't it be Lovely: Explanation and Scientific Realism', Metascience 14, 3 (2006), 331-361. (Review Symposium on the second edition of Inference to the Best Explanation, with James Ladyman, Igor Douven and Bas van Fraassen.) [230 KB PDF file]
  • 'What Can Bas Believe?', Analysis 66 (2006), 226-233 (with Paul Dicken). [28 KB PDF file]
  • 'Science and Religion: The Immersion Solution', in Andrew Moore & Michael Scott (eds) Realism and Religion: Philosophical and Theological Perspectives (Ashgate, forthcoming). [71 KB PDF file]
  • 'Waiting for Hume', in Marina Frasca-Spada & P.J.E. Kail (eds) Impressions of Hume, Oxford University Press, 2005, 59-76. [88 KB PDF file]
  • 'The Truth about Science', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 360 (2005), 1259-1269. [160 KB PDF file]
  • 'Testing Hypotheses: Prediction and Prejudice', Science 307 (14 January 2005), 219-221. [Abstract] [Full text]
  • Inference to the Best Explanation, Routledge, 1991; expanded second edition, 2004.
  • 'Epistemic Options', Philosophical Studies 121 (2004) 147-158. [36 KB PDF file]
  • 'What Good is an Explanation?', in G. Hon & S. Rackover (eds.), Explanation: Theoretical Approaches, Kluwer, 2001, 43-59. Reprinted in J. Cornwell (ed.) Understanding Explanation, Oxford University Press, 2004, 1-22. [52 KB PDF file]
  • 'Genetic and Generic Determinism: A New Threat to Free Will?', in D. Rees and S. Rose (eds.) Perils and Prospects of the New Brain Sciences (CUP, 2004). [44 KB PDF file]
  • 'The Reach of the Law', Philosophical Books, 43, 4, October 2002, 254-260. [36 KB PDF file]
  • 'Quests of a Realist', Metascience, 10, 3 (2001), 347-353. [144 KB PDF file]
  • 'The History of Empiricism', International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioural Sciences, Pergamon, 2001, 4481-4485. [72 KB PDF file]
  • 'Is Explanation a Guide to Inference?', in G. Hon and S. Rackover (eds.), Explanation: Theoretical Approaches, Kluwer, 2001, 93-120. [84 KB PDF file]
  • 'Inference to the Best Explanation', in W.H. Newton-Smith (ed.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Science, Blackwell, 2000, 184-193. [40 KB PDF file]
  • 'Tracking Track Records', Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volume LXXIV (2000), 179-205. [64 KB PDF file]
  • 'The Epistemology of Testimony', Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science 29A (1998), 1-31. [2.27 MB PDF file]
  • 'All Else Being Equal', Philosophy 74 (1999), 155-168. [48 KB PDF file]
  • 'Binding the Mind', in J. Cornwell (ed.), Consciousness and Human Identity, Oxford University Press, 1998, 212-224. [40 KB PDF file]
  • 'Cambridge Contributions to the Philosophy of Science', in S. Ormrod (ed.), Cambridge Contributions, Cambridge University Press, 1998, 122-142. [52 KB PDF file]
  • 'Is the Best Good Enough?', Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society XCIII (1993), 89-104; reprinted in D. Papineau (ed.), Philosophy of Science, Oxford Readings in Philosophy, Oxford University Press, 1996. [48 KB PDF file]
  • 'Popper and Reliabilism', in A. O'Hear (ed.), Karl Popper: Philosophy and Problems, Royal Institute of Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, 1995, 31-43. [44 KB PDF file]
  • 'Making a Difference', Philosophica, Vol. 51, No. 1, 1993, 39-54. Reprinted in Revue Roumaine de Philosophie, 38, 3.4, 1994, 291-303. [56 KB PDF file]
  • 'Contrastive Explanation', in D. Knowles (ed.), Explanation and its Limits, Cambridge University Press, 1990, 247-266; reprinted in D. Ruben (ed.), Explanation, Oxford Readings in Philosophy, Oxford University Press, 1993.
  • 'Causation Outside the Law', in H. Gross & T.R. Harrison (eds.), Jurisprudence: Cambridge Essays, Oxford University Press, 1992, 127-148. [56 KB PDF file]