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A Turn of Events
Wesley Salmon was an astute mind, and enjoyed a traditional style of learning as he grew up in the United States. He took a major turn, however, from what he thought his calling was in 1944 when he, "entered the University of Chicago Divinity School with the intention to become a minister" (Galavotti). He fell away from this goal, as he turned towards philosophy and scientific thought. In 1947, he received his MA in Philosophy, which was his first step into a larger world (Galavotti). -
Lots of Thoughts
On May 25, 1962, Salmon wrote a riveting book called the "Scientific Explanation" with Philip Kitcher. In it, Salmon explores what he believes is a new construct for "the scientific explanation" that explains the "that and the why" (Salmon, 4). Salmon's views were challenged quite a bit, and left a lot of other questions. But he did move thought on the subject forward. There's a YouTube video that captures his view (fast forward to 23:45) found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmKtyn5NzG8 -
The Space of Time in Motion
In his expedition to expand his horizons, Salmon looked to the stars. He published an introductory book called "Space, Time, and Motion" in 1975, which was considered an easy-to-read work for folks just entering the field (Galavotti). It had its critics, however, who were all-too-willing to take it apart over small things like failing to, "convey any sense of continuing philosophical debate" (Smith, 371). Salmon did a good job though of providing the fundamentals to his reader on the topic. -
A Realistic Question
Salmon's passion towards the end of his life was the philosophy of realism. He wrote many papers on it, and later these collections were published in a book after his death (Galavotti). In it, Salmon asks a defining question: "whether inductive reasoning contains the resources to enable us to have observational evidence for or against statements about unobservable entities and/or properties" (Salmon, 3). Salmon was extremely good at asking questions, and Reality and Rationality posed many.