Technological instruments in scientific experimentation

In 1983 Ian Hacking published his monograph Representing and Intervening, which presented one of the ®rst philosophical treatments of experimental science. By drawing attention to the role of experiments in science, it presented a new approach to the realism debate and to the constructivist critique of rationality. An important new element of those discussions was the role of manipulation and intervention in experimental practice. Hacking claimed that a proper understanding of the role of manipulation could save at least some of the realist claims of science. Interest in different aspects of experiments in physics has grown ever since, both in philosophy of science and in history and sociology of science. The Philosophy of Scienti®c Experimentation, edited by Hans Radder, is a new contribution to this ®eld. It contains a collection of articles by 12 philosophers with an interest in experiment. As Radder summarizes in his introductory chapter, each essay examines one or more of six interconnected themes that run through the book: (1) the philosophical implications of actively and intentionally interfering with the material world while conducting experiments; (2) issues of causality in experiments; (3) the link between science and technology; (4) the role of theory in experimentation; (5) the impact of modelling and computer simulation on experimentation; (6) the philosophical implications of the design, operation and use of scienti®c instruments.