This volume contains a selection of contributed papers presented at the 25th Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, which took place in Atlanta, Georgia, on November 3–5, 2016. Three hundred and thirteen papers were submitted for consideration, from which the program committee selected 180 (57.5%) for presentation at the meeting and 41 (13.1%) for publication in this volume. A second proceedings volume containing selected symposium papers and C. Kenneth Waters’s presidential address will be published next year.
It is my pleasure to thank the many people who helped bring this volume to fruition. This includes, first and foremost, members of the PSA 2016 program committee, each of whom invested many hours reading and evaluating papers:
| Marshall Abrams (Alabama) | Joel Katzav (Queensland) |
| Evelyn Brister (RIT) | Eleanor Knox (KCL) |
| Hasok Chang (Cambridge) | Tarja Knuuttila (South Carolina) |
| Mazviita Chirimuuta (Pittsburgh) | Marc Lange (North Carolina) |
| Carol Cleland (Colorado) | Sabina Leonelli (Exeter) |
| Heather Douglas (Waterloo) | Peter Lewis (Miami) |
| Kenny Easwaran (Texas A&M) | Juha Saatsi (Leeds) |
| Greg Frost-Arnold (Hobart and | Jan Sprenger (Tilburg) |
| William Smith) | Katie Steele (ANU) |
| Paul Griffiths (Sydney) | James Tabery (Utah) |
| Till Grüne-Yanoff (KTH) | Bas van Fraassen (SFSU/Princeton) |
| Valerie Hardcastle (Cincinnati) | Marcel Weber (Geneva) |
They did a superb job, and I am extremely grateful to them not only for sharing their expertise and good judgment but also for keeping the review process on schedule. I cannot thank them enough.
I am also very grateful to PSA Executive Director Jessica Pfeifer, who was a constant source of help and support. I remain in awe of the efficiency with which she organized the many facets of the PSA 2016 meeting. Sincere thanks also to Chris Smeenk, the PSA 2014 program chair, who answered numerous questions about his own experience with the review process; his advice and encouragement were a great help. I also gratefully acknowledge assistance from Andrea Woody, the PSA 2012 program chair.
In addition, I would like to thank the Philosophy of Science editorial team, particularly Editor in Chief Jeffrey Barrett and Managing Editor Sarita Rosenstock, for essential guidance regarding the production process. It was a pleasure to work with such an organized and professional journal office. Special thanks are owed to Sarita for managing the flow of papers, adjusting the software system, and answering my questions about how it works—and for the many other helpful things she did behind the scenes that I am not even aware of; it was all very much appreciated.
I am also grateful to C. Kenneth Waters and the PSA Governing Board for the opportunity to serve as PSA 2016 program chair and for providing financial support that allowed me to have a reduced teaching load while doing so. It has been wonderful to see the breadth of work being carried out by PSA members, and it was exciting to see that work brought together at the PSA 2016 meeting.
Finally, I would like to thank the authors who contributed the excellent papers that make up this volume.
