Main description:

Though the publication of Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions seemed to herald the advent of a unified study of the history and philosophy of science, it is a hard fact that history of science and philosophy of science have increasingly grown apart. Recently, however, there has been a series of workshops on both sides of the Atlantic (called '&HPS') intended to bring historians and philosophers of science together to discuss new integrative approaches. This is therefore an especially appropriate time to explore the problems with and prospects for integrating history and philosophy of science. The original essays in this volume, all from specialists in the history of science or philosophy of science, offer such an exploration from a wide variety of perspectives. The volume combines general reflections on the current state of history and philosophy of science with studies of the relation between the two disciplines in specific historical and scientific cases.

Contents:

Introduction Part I: General Reflections., Thomas Kuhn and Interdisciplinary Conversation: Why Historians and Philosophers of Science Stopped Talking to One Another-. The History and Philosophy of Science History. - What in Truth Divides Historians and Philosophers of Science?. - History and Philosophy of Science: Recollections and Reflections. - Philosophy of Science and Its Historical Reconstructions. - The Underdetermination Debate: How Lack of History Leads to Bad Philosophy.- Part II: Case Studies Beyond Case Studies: History as Philosophy.- Hidden Entities and Experimental Practice: Renewing the Dialogue between History and Philosophy of Science.- Studying Methodological Thought: S. Weir Mitchell's Research on the Venom of Poisonous Snake.- Quantum Gravity: History, Historiography and Philosophy,.- Social Epistemology of Stem Cell Research: History, Philosophy and Experiment- History and Philosophy of Science at Work: Making Regenerative Medicine Better.