Scientific Concepts and Investigative Practice

This volume provides detailed case studies and general analyses to address questions raised by these points, such as:
- Can concepts be clearly distinguished from the sets of beliefs we have about their referents?
- What - if any - sense can be made of the separation between concepts and theories?
- Can we distinguish between empirical and theoretical concepts?
- Are there interesting similarities and differences between the role of concepts in the empirical sciences and in mathematics?
- What underlying notion of investigative practice could be drawn on to explicate the role of concept in such practice?
- From a philosophical point of view, is the distinction between discovery and justification a helpful frame of reference for inquiring into the dynamics of research?
- From a historiographical point of view, does a focus on concepts face the danger of falling back into an old-fashioned history of ideas?