This volume contains a selection of contributed papers presented at the Philosophy of Science Association Meeting held in Chicago on November 6–9, 2014. Three hundred forty papers were submitted for the meeting, from which the program committee selected 146 (43%) for presentation at the meeting and 50 (15%) for publication in this volume. Selected symposium papers and Helen Longino’s presidential address will be published next year in a companion volume.
It is a pleasure to thank those who have helped bring this volume to press. I am indebted first and foremost to the members of the program committee:
| Anna Alexandrova (University of Cambridge) | Holly Andersen (Simon Fraser University) |
| Brad Armendt (Arizona State University) | Bill Bechtel (University of California, San Diego) |
| Kevin Elliott (Michigan State University) | Melinda Fagan (University of Utah) |
| Patrick Forber (Tufts University) | Doreen Fraser (University of Waterloo) |
| Jim Griesemer (University of California, Davis) | Simon Huttegger (University of California, Irvine) |
| Colin Klein (Macquarie University) | Rebecca Kukla (Georgetown University) |
| Alyssa Ney (University of California, Davis) | Lydia Patton (Virginia Tech) |
| Kristina Rolin (University of Helsinki) | Paul Roth (University of California, Santa Cruz) |
| Jim Weatherall (University of California, Irvine) | Michael Weisberg (University of Pennsylvania) |
| Charlotte Werndl (University of Salzburg) | Eric Winsberg (University of South Florida) |
The number of papers submitted for PSA 2014 was about 30% greater than that for the previous meeting. The committee persevered through this heavier-than-expected workload with surprisingly good spirits. I cannot thank them enough for the integrity and good judgment they exercised throughout.
My approach to this job was shaped by my stint on the PSA 2012 program committee, chaired by the inimitable Andrea Woody. As well as being an exemplary chair, Andrea provided thorough, effective advice throughout my tenure, and it is a pleasure to thank her for her generous assistance. I also gratefully acknowledge help from Steve Downes, program chair for PSA 2010. Several colleagues helped to identify potential members of the program committee. I will not list their names here, for fear that the committee members may not share my gratitude.
Jessica Pfeifer deserves nearly all the credit for creating such a stimulating meeting out of the raw materials selected by the program committee. Her expert management belies the fact that this was her first PSA meeting as executive secretary. I am enormously grateful for her help and guidance, which kept my job manageable. I am also grateful for assistance from Gary Hardcastle, the PSA’s previous executive secretary, and from our colleagues at HSS, especially Jay Malone and Greg Macklem.
Philosophy of Science’s editorial team has been indispensable. Jeff Barrett has been a reliable source of sage advice on best practices, and much else, sometimes delivered while cycling around Newport Bay. I am particularly grateful to Hannah Rubin, managing editor, who made it possible to use the journal’s editorial software effectively. She has been enormously capable and professional throughout and has managed a variety of editorial tasks associated with producing this volume. It has been a pleasure working with Hannah, Jeff, and the rest of the Philosophy of Science team.
The PSA Governing Board provided financial support that allowed me to have a reduced teaching load while serving as program chair. I am grateful to Michael Milde, dean of Arts and Humanities, and Henrik Lagerlund, chair of the Department of Philosophy, for their support. In addition to the teaching release, I was able to hire an undergraduate work-study student to assist with several time-consuming tasks.
It is a pleasure to thank Helen Longino and the Governing Board of the PSA for the opportunity to play this role. It has been fascinating to see the breadth of research being pursued by the members of the PSA and rewarding to interact with scholars from across the discipline. My final thanks goes to those who submitted contributed papers. The quantity and quality of the 340 contributions made the deliberations of the program committee all that much more difficult, but they reflect a growing and thriving scholarly community.
