Individuation, Process, and Scientific Practices

Abstract

The questions “What is an individual?” and “What things count as individuals?” are classic philosophical inquiries, currently pursued mainly within analytic metaphysics. This volume takes a new approach, reformulating these questions and exploring them from the perspective of scientific practices. The guiding query then becomes: “How do scientists individuate the things they investigate and thus count them as individuals?” In this first chapter, the volume’s editors lay the groundwork for this new approach. The following sections define the problem of individuation, examine the close relation between individuality and individuation, and motivate the approach taken by this volume in the context of relevant literature. Key themes of the subsequent chapters—experimental practice, process, and pluralism—are discussed, as well as a brief introduction to each chapter.

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