I just got a copy today of my new edited book, Philosophies of the Sciences:  A Guide (Oxford:  Wiley-Blackwell, 2010).  This book started to develop at the same time I was working on Philosophy of Science:  An Historical Anthology (Oxford:  Wiley-Blackwell, 2009) with my colleagues Tim McGrew and Marc Alspector-Kelly.  In the collaborative book, I had the idea of adding some historical context for the so-called “special sciences”, including biology (Darwin), chemistry (Lavoisier), and geology (Cuvier and Lyell); we also included physics (Einstein).  But then I was thinking that there should be a whole book about philosophical issues in the difference sciences, particularly one that offered review essays and provided a starting point for further research; another goal would be to let discussions from different sciences land in the same venue and be able to inform each other.  From that, Philosophies of the Sciences was born!

The essayists did a fantastic job integrating disparate themes and vast literatures; I highly commend each essay.  After some introductory essays, the book is divided into three parts:  exact sciences (logic, math, and probability); natural sciences (physics, chemistry, biology, and earth science); and behavioral and social sciences (cognitive sciences, psychology, sociology, and economics).  It’s out in hardback for now, but a paperback will be on its way soon.  Check it out and let me know what you think!