Science is remarkably reliable. It puts people on the moon, performs laser eye surgery, tells us about ancient civilizations and species, and predicts the future of our climate. What underwrites this reliability? This book argues that the standard answers-the scientific method, rigour, and objectivity-are insufficient for the job. Here we propose a new model of science which places its products front and centre. In The Tangle of Science we show how any reliable piece of science is underpinned by a vast, diverse, and thick network of other scientific products. In doing so we bring back into focus areas of science that have been long neglected, emphasizing how every product, from the screws that hold the space shuttle together, to ways of measuring the consumer price index, to Einstein's theory of general relativity, work together to support results we can trust.

This is a much-needed new introduction to a field that has been transformed in recent years by exciting new subjects, ideas, and methods. It is designed both for students with central interests in philosophy and those planning to concentrate on the social sciences, and it presupposes no particular background in either domain. From the wide range of topics at the forefront of debate in philosophy of social science, the editors have chosen those which are representative of the most important and interesting contemporary work. A team of distinguished experts explore key aspects of the field such as social ontology (what are the things that social science studies?), objectivity, formal methods, measurement, and causal inference. Also included are chapters focused on notable subjects of social science research, such as well-being and climate change. Philosophy of Social Science provides a clear, accessible, and up-to-date guide to this fascinating field.

This is a much-needed new introduction to a field that has been transformed in recent years by exciting new subjects, ideas, and methods. It is designed both for students with central interests in philosophy and those planning to concentrate on the social sciences, and it presupposes no particular background in either domain. From the wide range of topics at the forefront of debate in philosophy of social science, the editors have chosen those which are representative of the most important and interesting contemporary work. A team of distinguished experts explore key aspects of the field such as social ontology (what are the things that social science studies?), objectivity, formal methods, measurement, and causal inference. Also included are chapters focused on notable subjects of social science research, such as well-being and climate change. Philosophy of Social Science provides a clear, accessible, and up-to-date guide to this fascinating field.

The philosophy of social sciences has become one of the battlegrounds of contemporary theory and analysis. At the core of the debate is the central question about the objective capacity of a range of disciplines not explicitly regarded as scientific. The philosophy of social science employs a rich and complex approach to its object, an approach which explores methodological, epistemological, metaphysical an logical questions. How can such a diverse approach attempt objectivity when faecd with the complexity of what is studied, namely the social world? What is the object of social scientific investigation? The Objects of Social Sciendce presents a clear and structured analysis of the philosophy of social science across each of its main disciplines: Antropology, Sociology, History, Economics and Geography. It both identifies the practical and theoretical procedures involved in the identification of the object and, at the same time, raises questions aout the very objectivity of these procedures in analysing the object. The book will prove invaluable to students across the social sciences as a guide to the theories and methodologies which underpin their disciplines.Eleonora Montuschi teaches Philosophy os Social Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she is Deputy Director, Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Sciences.