Editorial

Abstract

Preparing this ambitious Special Issue has challenged everyone involved: authors, reviewers, and guest editors. The editors solicited contributions from many leading figures in a broad array of scientific and philosophical disciplines, with emphasis on phenomenological approaches to philosophy (see Section I). The motivating force was the conviction that if we could find a viable bridge for the gap between the "two cultures"(1) of science and philosophy, fundamental problems in each camp could be addressed more fruitfully than ever before and a new kind of science be born. We believe the unprecedented cross-fertilization of ideas from this initiative may furnish seeds from which that new, better integrated, and more effective approach to science may arise. This Special Issue consists of forty papers. For each one, multiple reviewers were solicited, with at least one reviewer from each "culture" (a scientist and a philosopher). In many cases, several rounds of revision were carried out. Needless to say, this required great patience and dedication of all participants. The editors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of our authors, and of our anonymous reviewers, who worked long and hard on the papers we sent them with no compensation for their efforts. We also wish to thank the Elsevier editorial and production team for the support they gave us in bringing this project to fruition. We would now like to offer a synoptic overview of the Special Issue, proceeding section by section and paper by paper. Our hope is that the reader will find this unique effort to marry science and philosophy both meaningful and enjoyable.