Table Of ContentThe Material Realization of Science
BOSTON STUDIES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
Editors
ROBERTS.COHEN,BostonUniversity
JU¨RGENRENN,MaxPlanckInstitutefortheHistoryofScience
KOSTASGAVROGLU,UniversityofAthens
ManagingEditor
LINDYDIVARCI,MaxPlanckInstitutefortheHistoryofScience
EditorialBoard
THEODOREARABATZIS,UniversityofAthens
ALISABOKULICH,BostonUniversity
HEATHERE.DOUGLAS,UniversityofPittsburgh
JEANGAYON,Universite´ Paris1
THOMASF.GLICK,BostonUniversity
HUBERTGOENNER,UniversityofGoettingen
JOHNHEILBRON,UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley
DIANAKORMOS-BUCHWALD,CaliforniaInstituteofTechnology
CHRISTOPHLEHNER,MaxPlanckInstitutefortheHistoryofScience
PETERMCLAUGHLIN,Universita¨tHeidelberg
AGUST´INIETO-GALAN,UniversitatAuto`nomadeBarcelona
NUCCIOORDINE,Universita´ dellaCalabria
ANASIMO˜ES,UniversidadedeLisboa
JOHNJ.STACHEL,BostonUniversity
SYLVANS.SCHWEBER,HarvardUniversity
BAICHUNZHANG,ChineseAcademyofScience
VOLUME294
Forfurthervolumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/5710
Hans Radder
The Material Realization
of Science
From Habermas to Experimentation
and Referential Realism
Revised Edition, with a New Postscript
123
HansRadder
FacultyofPhilosophy
VUUniversityAmsterdam
DeBoelelaan1105
1081HVAmsterdam
Netherlands
ISSN0068-0346
ISBN978-94-007-4106-5 ISBN978-94-007-4107-2(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-94-007-4107-2
SpringerDordrechtHeidelbergNewYorkLondon
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2012935860
FirstDutcheditionpublished1984byVUUitgeverij,Amsterdam
FirstEnglisheditionpublished1988byVanGorcum,Assen
©SpringerScience+BusinessMediaB.V.2012
Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpartof
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Preface to the Revised English Edition
Since 2004, the 1988 edition of this book has been unavailable. Some time ago,
Irereadthebookandconcludedthattheremightbeinterestinpublishingarevised
and expanded edition, for two reasons. First, in philosophy of science there is a
renewed focus on the problem of scientific realism. Second, making a detailed
connectionbetween“continental”philosophyand“analytic”philosophyofscience
ispresentlylessunusualthanitwasinthe1980s.Inthisrespect,Iampleasedthat
thebookispublishedintheBostonStudiesinthePhilosophyofScience,whichis
atrulyinternationalbookseries.
Therevisioninvolvedacarefuleditingofthecomplete1988edition,inpartby
consulting the Dutch original. The book also needed a more informative subtitle
andabetterindex.Thistime-consumingeditorialjobremindedmeofthefactthat
nonnativespeakers of English have to put a lot of extra effortinto their scholarly
work.Inspiteofthiseffort,Iamafraidthattheresultingbookstillbearsthetraces
of its Dutch origin. As I suggested in the preface to the previous edition, readers
withaprimaryinterestinsciencemightstartwithPartII,andthenreturntoPartI,
whileforphilosophersfollowingthenormalorderwillbethemostrewarding.
Therevisionentailedmanyadjustmentsofthetext,buttheseexclusivelyconcern
the phrasing, and not the content, of the argumentation. I have chosen to keep
thetemporalperspectiveofthe1988edition,whichimpliesthatqualificationslike
“recently”shouldbeseenfromthatperspective.AlthoughIstillagreewithmostof
theviewsexpressedintheoriginalbook,Ihavechangedsomeofmyviewsinsome
respects.However,itprovedmoreappropriatetodiscussthesechangesinanewly
addedPostscriptinsteadofincludingthemintheoriginalbook.Inaddition,inthe
PostscriptIaddressseveralcriticismsofthebookmadebyotherauthors;Ipointto
improvementsand developmentsof its subjects in my own later work; and I take
up the question of how the book relates to a range of important issues in recent
philosophyofscience.
I am indebted to various people for their support of the book project or their
comments on its substance. Thanks go to Joel Anderson, Steve Fuller, Valeriano
Iranzo, Christian Krijnen, Theo Kuipers, Harry Kunneman, William Rehg, Bas
v
vi PrefacetotheRevisedEnglishEdition
Van Fraassen, and Ioannis Votsis. Furthermore, I have much appreciated the
valuable editorial assistance of Simon Mills, Petry Kievit and (as always) Sally
Wyatt.Finally,afellowshipattheNetherlandsInstituteforAdvancedStudyinthe
HumanitiesandSocialSciences(inWassenaar,theNetherlands)providedtheideal
environmentforcarryingouttheproject.
Amsterdam,December20,2011
Preface to the First English Edition
ThisEnglisheditionisanalmostliteraltranslationoftheDutchtext.Occasionally,
Ihaveaddedanexplanatoryremark,stimulatedbythecommentsof,amongothers,
RogerCooke,WimdeJongandBasJongeling.
It is a satisfying developmentin the scholarly study of science that, in the last
fewyears,theinterestinexperimentandexperimentationhasbeendefinitelyonthe
increase. Nevertheless, most studies published in this field did not prove directly
relevant to the subject of this work. An exception is Ian Hacking’s Representing
andIntervening,whichIdiscussbrieflyinthisedition.
Iwouldliketosuggestthefollowingtothereader.Thetwopartsofthebookdo
constituteacoherentwhole.Still,Icanimaginethatreadersprimarilyinterestedin
naturalsciencecouldstartwithPartIIandthenreverttoPartI,whilethosewhotake
amorephilosophicalinterestcanfollowthenaturalorder.
Finally,IwouldliketothanktheNetherlandsOrganizationfortheAdvancement
of Pure Research (ZWO) for making available a translation grant, the translators
Tineke van Putten and Dawn Wolfswinkel for their contribution and the pleasant
cooperation,andSusanvanPuttenandTiniTuijpfortypingoutthefinalmanuscript.
Amsterdam,January21,1988
vii
Preface to the Dutch Edition
Now that this book has been finished, I would like to thank everybody who has
contributedtoitsrealization.Byparticipatinginthesection“Philosophyoftheexact
naturalsciences”oftheFacultyofPhilosophyoftheFreeUniversity,Iwasableto
profitgreatlyfromthebroadandprofoundknowledgeandunderstandingavailable
inthefieldofphilosophyofscience.
WorkingasaneditorofKrisis,Igrewtounderstandtheimportanceoftheever-
presentsocialandpoliticalpresuppositionsandimplicationsofphilosophicalviews.
Accordingly,inthisbookIhavealsotriedtotakeintoaccountthefactthatpracticing
philosophywillalwaysimplyan“interested”position.
However,philosophyisalsoanacademicprofessionthathasitsownprofessional
rules and criteria. In the Krisis study group “Alternatives in science” we tried to
combine both aspects, the interested and the professional,and to developthem in
various directions. The cooperation within this interdisciplinary group has had a
moststimulatingeffectonme.
Furthermore,philosophyofscienceinvolvesadditional,morespecialistrequire-
ments.FromthedebatesintheDutch“Studygrouponthefoundationsofphysics”
Ihavelearnedagooddeal,particularlyaboutthemeasurementprobleminquantum
mechanics.
The material realization of this book has been made possible thanks to the
facilitiesoftheFacultyofPhilosophyandthefinancialsupportoftheBROfundof
theFreeUniversityofAmsterdam.Ishouldalsomentionthepleasantcooperation
withtypingofficeDeAanslagandwiththeVUBoekhandel/Uitgeverij.
PeterKirschenmann,mythesissupervisor,hasplayedanimportantroleregard-
ingthesubstanceofthebook.Histoleranceofotherpeople’sviewsandhisalways
relevantandprofoundcommentsandcriticismhavehadaninvaluableinfluenceon
the ultimate result of my research project. Less direct, but not less important, has
beenthesupportIreceivedfromFrancis,NielsandWouter,especiallyconcerning
thequestionoftheconditionsandlimitationsofworkingasatheoreticalresearcher.
Finally, I would like to thank in particular: Ben Bakker, Hans van den Berg,
Peter van den Besselaar, Rene´ Boomkens, Roger Cooke, Jon Dorling, Maarten
ix
x PrefacetotheDutchEdition
Franssen,PeterGroenewegen,JanHilgevoord,DickHoekzema,JeanJaminon,Wim
deJong,BasJongeling,JozefKeulartz,HarryKunneman,ChunglinKwa,Petervan
Lieshout,AnnemarieMol,WillemdeMuynck,PieterPekelharing,ArieRip,Willem
Roos,BertvanderSchaaf,HannekeStasseandKarenVintges.
Amsterdam,March12,1984
