The thirty-one papers collected in this volume represent most of the
arti- cles that I have published in the philosophy of science and
related founda- tional areas of science since 1970. The present volume
is a natural succes- sor to Studies in the Methodology and Foundations
of Science, a collection of my articles published in 1969 by Reidel (now
a part of Kluwer). The articles are arranged under five main headings.
Part I contains six articles on general methodology. The topics range
from formal methods to the plurality of science. Part II contains six
articles on causality and explanation. The emphasis is almost entirely
on probabilistic approaches. Part III contains six articles on
probability and measurement. The impor- tance of representation theorems
for both probability and measurement is stressed. Part IV contains five
articles on the foundations of physics. The first three articles are
concerned with action at a distance and space and time, the last two
with quantum mechanics. Part V contains eight articles on the
foundations of psychology. This is the longest part and the articles
reflect my continuing strong interest in the nature of learning and
perception. Within each part the articles are arranged chronologically.
I turn now to a more detailed overview of the content. The first article
of Part I concerns the role of formal methods in the philosophy of
science. Here I discuss what is the new role for formal methods now that
the imperialism of logical positivism has disappeared.
