Computational methods such as computer simulations, Monte Carlo methods, and agent-based modeling have become the dominant techniques in many areas of science. Extending Ourselves contains the first systematic philosophical account of these new methods, and how they require a different approach to scientific method. Paul Humphreys draws a parallel between the ways in which such computational methods have enhanced our abilities to mathematically model the world, and the more familiar ways in which scientific instruments have expanded our access to the empirical world. This expansion forms the basis for a new kind of empiricism, better suited to the needs of science than the older anthropocentric forms of empiricism. Human abilities are no longer the ultimate standard of epistemological correctness. Humphreys also includes arguments for the primacy of properties rather than objects, the need to consider technological constraints when appraising scientific methods, and a detailed account of how the path from computational template to scientific application is constructed. This last feature allows us to hold a form of selective realism in which anti-realist arguments based on formal reconstructions of theories can be avoided. One important consequence of the rise of computational methods is that the traditional organization of the sciences is being replaced by an organization founded on computational templates. Extending Ourselves will be of interest to philosophers of science, epistemologists, and to anyone interested in the role played by computers in modern science.

保羅·漢弗萊斯（Paul William Humphreys），美國弗吉尼亞大學哲學係教授，曾任美國科學基金委員會副主席，美國哲學學會國際部主任，弗吉尼亞大學哲學係主任等，兼任國際著名雜誌Synthese，Philosophy of Science，American Philosophical Quarterly等編委，近年來尤以其在科學哲學以及有關突現的認識論研究、計算機科學哲學等方麵的研究，聞名於歐美哲學界。著有《解釋的或然性一一社會科學、醫學和物理科學中的因果解釋（The Chances of Explanation：Causal Explanation in the Sociai，Medical，and Physical Sciences）、《突現的哲學解釋》（Emergence：A Philosophical Account），主編《牛津科學哲學手冊>（Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Science）、《突現——科學與哲學當代讀本》（Emergence：Contemporary Readings in Science and Philosophy）等書。

蘇湛，中國科學院大學副教授，兼任中國自然辯證法研究會物理學哲學專業委員會副秘書長，中國科學技術史學會科學文化專業委員會秘書，中國科學技術史學會物理學史專業委員會理事。研究方嚮為物理學哲學、物理學史。著有《看得見的中國科技史》、《十一世紀中國的科學、技術與社會》，譯有《哈拉維與基因改良食品）（閤譯）、《科幻文學的批評與建構》（閤譯）等。

董春雨，北京師範大學教授，博士生導師，兼任中國自然辯證法研究會副秘書長；北京市自然辯證法研究會副理事長；《自然辯證法研究》副主編等。研究方嚮為物理學哲學、係統科學哲學、科學哲學。

孫衛民，美國加利福尼亞州立大學北嶺分校教授，以科學哲學、認識論與形而上學、邏輯學和心靈哲學等方麵的研究見長。