This book focuses on the different and complementary components of scientific hypothetical thinking as a multifaceted phenomenon in order to shed light on its crucial role in scientific development. It is now a common view that hypotheses play important roles in science, that they can bring order to data. However, the exact nature of their roles deserves more careful and systematic scrutiny. This book’s novelty consists in being directly focused on the fact that hypotheses can provide suggestive clues for further scientific studies. That is, they can play a more constructive and creative role. Furthermore, it answers not only “why” hypotheses are so important, but also “how” they work within scientific context. The contributions are written by renowned philosophers of science, specifically for this volume, ensuring it is an important read for both philosophers and scientists.
