This Very Short Introduction provides a concise overview of the main themes of contemporary philosophy of science. It explores the fundamental questions and challenges in the field, and looks at philosophical issues in particular sciences, including the problem of classification in biology, and the nature of space and time in physics.

• 1: What is science?


• 2: Scientific Inference


• 3: Explanation in science


• 4: Realism and anti-realism


• 5: Scientific change and scientific revolutions


• 7: Science and its critics


• Further reading


• Index

Samir Okasha is Professor of Philosophy of Science at the University of Bristol, where he has taught since 2003. He currently serves as Associate Editor of Philosophy of Science, and has previously served as Associate Editor for the European Journal for the Philosophy of Science. He is currently the holder of a European Research Council Advanced Investigator Award, for a research project entitled 'Darwinism and the Theory of Rational Choice'. His articles have appeared in multiple leading philosophy and science journal, and he has authored several books, including Evolution and the Levels of Selection (OUP, 2006) and Evolution and Rationality (CUP, 2014).