Fictions in Science: Philosophical Essays on Modeling and Idealization (Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Science)

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Science is popularly understood as being an ideal of impartial algorithmic objectivity that provides us with a realistic description of the world down to the last detail. The essays collected in this bookx2014;written by some of the leading experts in the fieldx2014;challenge this popular image right at its heart, taking as their starting point that science trades not only in truth, but in fiction, too. With case studies that range from physics to economics and to biology, Fictions in Science reveals that fictions are as ubiquitous in scientific narratives and practice as they are in any other human endeavor, including literature and art. Of course scientific activity, most prominently in the formal sciences, employs logically precise algorithmic thinking. However, the key to the predictive and technological success of the empirical sciences might well lie elsewherex2014;perhaps even in scientistsx2019; extraordinary creative imagination instead. As these essays demonstrate, within the bounds of what is empirically possible, a scientistx2019;s capacity for invention and creative thinking matches that of any writer or artist.

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Mauricio SuxE1;rez is Associate Professor in Logic and Philosophy of Science at Madridx2019;s Complutense University. His main research interests lie in the philosophy of physics and general epistemology of science, and he has published widely in both areas.