A Research On John Ziman's Philosophy Of Science

John Ziman is a famous British scientist, and a scientific philosopher, who changed his research field from physics to metascience in the early 1960s. This thesis is based on John Ziman's works "An Introduction to Science Studies","Real Science: What it is,and what it means","Reliable Knowledge" and "the power of knowledge", etc. Referencing foreign and domestic scholars'relative reviews of Ziman's philosophy of science, and analyzing Ziman's philosophy of science in system. In view of Ziman's naturalism, the article contents that what is science, the production pattern of science, the credibility of science, and the relation between science and society, and so on. The aims of the research are to reveal the characters of Ziman's scientific philosophical thoughts, as well as its positive significance and limitations.Ziman explains science on the basis of naturalism, and considers science is not an abstracted but a natural category. So he tries to restore a real science in order to defend science. The production pattern of science has become post-academic science from academic science, at the same time science has been collectivization, industrialization, bureaucratization and utility. Nevertheless the credibility of science lies on its objective being, which has ensured the truth of science, and avoided absolutism. So science has been an important part of society, for its social value and responsibility. These theories are important for us to know the essence of science. Exactly as what ziman says, his theory inverts the tradition of metascience and initiates a new approach to Science Studies.