Science is the study of our world, as it is in its messy reality. Nonetheless, science requires idealization to function—if we are to attempt to understand th

This book explores the centrality of idealization to science and reconsiders the aims of science in light of it. Idealizations are assumptions made without rega

Perfected science is but an idealization that provides a useful contrast to highlight the limited character of what we do and can attain. This lies at the core

Roughly, instrumentalism is the view that science is primarily, and should primarily be, an instrument for furthering our practical ends. It has fallen out of f

“Appiah is a writer and thinker of remarkable range... [He] has packed into this short book an impressive amount of original reflection... A rich and illumina