Philosophy of Science: The Central Issues

The most comprehensive anthology of its kind, Philosophy of Science: The Central Issues offers an exceptionally balanced introduction to the main currents in twentieth-century philosophy of science. Forty-nine articles and self-contained excerpts by Thomas S. Kuhn, Karl Popper, Carl G. Hempel, W. V. Quine, and other prominent philosophers survey the foundational questions in the field: What distinguishes science from pseudoscience? Is scientific change a rational process? In what sense is science objective? What are natural laws, and what do they describe? Are scientific theories to be understood as offering a true account of the world? and others.

To help uninitiated readers navigate the sometimes challenging literature in the field, the editors of this collection provide unusually extensive apparatus. Brief introductions to the nine thematic sections sketch out the major issues addressed in the subsequent readings. Fair-minded and thorough commentaries following the readings discuss the selections in depth and draw connections to other pieces in the anthology; they also develop salient arguments, explain unfamiliar theories, and place the readings in a wider philosophical context. A bibliography, a glossary, and two indexes – one for subjects, the other for names – further enhance this volume’s value as a reference.