ABSTRACT
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCEis a subject of profound intellectual interest and great social and political importance. Science itself has produced knowledge that is relevant to answering questions in almost all areas of philosophy. Sometimes it is argued by both scientists and philosophers that philosophy is increasingly redundant as science expands into what was once its exclusive domain. For example, the ancient Greek atomists speculated about the nature of matter, but such speculation has been replaced by detailed experimental knowledge. Similarly, experimental psychology and neuroscience are now rapidly colonizing the territory that was once the sovereign domain of philosophers, poets and artists; aspects of the human mind such as the imagination, language and free will are all now extensively studied by science. On the other hand, science's nature, methods and goals are continually contested and evolving, and philosophical reflection on it has much to contribute to both science and culture in general. Many aspects of the scientific method that contemporary scientists hold dear were first explicitly articulated by philosophers, and philosophers of science have carefully studied aspects of science in general as well as specializing in the study of particular theories and sciences and their history and foundations. Science is not always reliable and there are many examples of scien-tific orthodoxy being subsequently found to be erroneous. Usually, in such episodes, established knowledge is refined and corrected at the margins. However, there are also revisions in fundamental components of theories, and subjecting scientific the -ories and methods to scrutiny is essential if errors are to be found and corrected.
