ABSTRACT
If the philosophy of science is not typically represented as a ‘continental’ discipline it is nevertheless historically rooted in the tradition of continental thought. The different approaches to the philosophy of science apparent in the writings of Ernst Mach, Pierre Duhem and Gaston Bachelard suggest the range of these roots. But for a discussion of the tradition of continental philosophy of science-as the term ‘continental’ characterizes a contemporary style of philosophic thinking-it is important to emphasize that while Mach, Duhem and Bachelard may be said to be historically continental, a properly continental-style philosophy of science should not be ascribed to any one of them. Contemporary philosophy of science is pursued in what is largely an analytic or AngloAmerican-style philosophic tradition. And Mach, Duhem and Bachelard made the formative contributions for which they are known in the philosophy of science within this same almost quintessentially analytic framework.1
