Although the name “philosophy of science” is a recent one, the types of inquiry which it covers are not. Speculation on the meaning and conditions of our knowledge of the world is as old as systematic inquiry, and accordingly the first writings on the philosophy of science are those of the ancient Greeks. Indeed, the works of Plato and Aristotle are the beginning of that long series of commentaries upon the content, the nature, and the limitations of science which are the characteristic products of the history of philosophy itself. It would be an anomaly if an institution with consequences as important for human weal and woe as western science has had, should not constantly receive interpretations of its significance. And it is surely no accident that some of the most vital periods of philosophic activity coincide with periods of “revolutionary” scientific changes.
It is in large measure because we are living in a period of such changes in science—particularly in physics, logic, and mathematics—that the philosophy of science has been receiving the attention of philosophically minded scientists as well of professional philosophers. The process of adjusting and reorganizing older conceptions in the light of newer ones is a perpetual feature of reflective inquiry, and the task has traditionally been assumed by philosophy.
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