Boyd N.M., De Baerdemaeker S., Heng K., Matarese V. (eds.) Philosophy of Astrophysics: Stars, Simulations, and the Struggle to Determine What is Out There

Springer, 2023. — 344 p. — (Synthese Library: Studies in Epistemology, Logic, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science 472). — ISBN 978 303126617X.This is an open access book. This book, the first edited collection of its kind, explores the recent emergence of philosophical research in astrophysics. It assembles a variety of original essays from scholars who are currently shaping this field, and it combines insightful overviews of the current state of play with novel, significant contributions. It therefore provides an ideal source for understanding the current debates in philosophy of astrophysics, and it offers new ideas for future cutting-edge research. The selection of essays offered in this book addresses methodological and metaphysical questions that target a wide range of topics, including dark matter, black holes, astrophysical observations and modelling.
The book serves as the first standard resource in philosophy of astrophysics for all scholars who work in the field and want to expand or deepen their knowledge, but it also provides an accessible guide for all those philosophers and scientists who are interested in getting a first, basic understanding of the main issues in philosophy of astrophysics.Introduction
Part I Theory, Observation, and the Relation Between Them
Laboratory Astrophysics: Lessons for Epistemology of Astrophysics
A Crack in the Track of the Hubble Constant
Theory Testing in Gravitational-Wave Astrophysics
Hybrid Enrichment of Theory and Observation in Next-Generation Stellar Population Synthesis
Doing More with Less: Dark Matter & Modified Gravity
Part II Models and Simulations
Stellar Structure Models Revisited: Evidence and Data in Asteroseismology
Idealizations in Astrophysical Computer Simulations
Simulation Verification in Practice
(What) Do We Learn from Code Comparisons? A Case Study of Self-Interacting Dark Matter Implementations
Simulation and Experiment Revisited: Temporal Data in Astronomy and Astrophysics
What’s in a Survey? Simulation-Induced Selection Effects in Astronomy
Part III Black Holes
On the Epistemology of Observational Black Hole Astrophysics l
Black Holes and Analogy
Extragalactic Reality Revisited: Astrophysics and Entity Realism
Part IV Concluding Thoughts
Reflections by a Theoretical Astrophysicist
Annotated Bibliography