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MICHAEL HEIDELBERGER and FRIED RICH STEINLE (eds.), Experimental Essays - Versuch zum Experiment. Interdisciplinary Studies, 3. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 1998. Pp. xiii+408. ISBN 3-7890-5367-8. DM 88.00 (paperback).
During the last fifteen years or so, the experiment has gained a new position in the history and philosophy of science. Whereas theory and ideas used to be in focus, and the experiment was mainly considered of interest in its relation to theory, today experiments and instruments are studied as practices of crucial importance to the understanding of science. The present volume is the outcome of a workshop held in Bielefeld, Germany in 1996. The lectures were given in either German or English, which is reflected in the published versions. Of the nineteen chapters, nine are in English and ten in German. This is, in my view, an unfortunate decision because it cannot avoid limiting the number of readers. Whether we like it or not, not all students of history and philosophy of science are familiar with both German and English.
Apart from a general introduction, the book is structured in six parts, ranging from early experimental methods over the role of instruments and theory to experiments as models of representation. In the two final chapters, Jed Buchwald and Hans Radder summarize and comment on the many ideas and arguments presented at the workshop. As stressed by the editors, the volume does not pretend to give a coherent or finished discussion of the topic but rather presents a variety of arguments. Some of these are...