View article

Philosophy of science is booming—at least in sheer quantitative terms, such as the numbers of scholars and professional organizations associated with the field. On the surface, one might attribute these trends to the concurrent growth of science itself, along with the large amounts of funding committed to scientific research and the lasting cultural power of scientific paradigms in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Yet, much work in the philosophy of science continues in nearly complete isolation from real scientific practice. The Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice (SPSP) grew out of a recognition of the need to promote the philosophical study of “science in practice”, by which the organizers of the Society meant both scientific practice and the functioning of science in practical realms of life. Despite occasional exceptions such as some recent literature on models, experimentation, and measurement which …