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1. The Idea of Science in Husserl and the Tradition -- 2. Comments on Henry Margenau's 'Phenomenology and Physics' -- 3. Life-World as Built World -- 4. Indirect Mathematization in the Physical Sciences -- 5. Of Exact and Inexact Essences in Modern Physical Science -- 6. Husserl's Phenomenology and the Ontology of the Natural Sciences -- 7. Parts, Wholes and the Forms of Life: Husserl and the New Biology -- 8. Critical Realism and the Scientific Realism Debate -- 9. Realism and Idealism in the Kuhnian Account of Science -- 10. The New Relevance of Experiment: A Postmodern Problem -- 11. The Problem of Experimentation -- 12. Toward a Hermeneutic Theory of the History of the Natural Sciences -- Bibliography of Phenomenological Philosophy of Natural Science -- Notes on Contributors -- Index of Names -- Index of Topics.

When in 1987 D. Marcus claimed the virtual lack of hermeneutics of the natural science as a field of recognizable individual cognitive interests, his argument made a deep impression on the philosophers of science. However, in 1998 P. Hi­lan, polemicizing with Marcus, put forward the thesis about the existence of "strong hermeneutics" – a philosophical genre of hermeneutics of the natural sci­ence. In a number of subsequent works, he gave a detailed exposition of his point of view, establishing links between the modern philosophy of the natu­ral sciences and philosophical hermeneutics. It was based on the inclusion in the philosophy of science those aspects of historicity, culture and tradition that lack in the traditional analysis of the relationship between theory and explana­tion. The expansion of the range of hermeneutics' participation in scientific knowledge turned out to be associated with the answer to the question of whether hermeneutics can improve our understanding, primarily the understand­ing of the essence of those things that fall into the sphere of natural sciences. Given that human subjects and communities are inseparable from nature, this un­derstanding must necessarily take into account the biological aspects of this unity. This forces us to include in the interpretive field of hermeneutics living matter, which should be understood not only as an object of hermeneutic inter­pretation by people, but at a deep level and as an interpretation of living beings themselves. The formation and legalization of the interpretation of this type dates back to 2002, when A. Markos published the book "Readers of the Book of Life", which called for the study of the "biohermeneutic" understanding of sign processes in living systems. The possibility of using this type of interpre­tation in a situation that arose in connection with the increasing exploitation of information technology and the Internet was also extremely interesting. Herme­neutics, which uses an interpretation of this type, is called "digital hermeneu­tics". It is based on the concept of "digital ontology", which was introduced by M. Eldred and R. Capurro: things exist (are understood) as much as we are able to digitize them. Digital hermeneutics should be considered as a general prob­lematization of the supposed homology between reality and its digital represen­tations.

The Special Session "Information in Natural Sciences" of the conference "Theoretical and Foundational Problems in Information Studies" (TFP) at the 2021 IS4SI Summit focused on information in Natural Sciences. Seven authors contributed extended abstracts based on their results, which are introduced in brief in this overview article. The topics presented for TFP session 3 have spanned a rather wide range of contributions, including discussions on the concept of quantitative information applied in Natural Sciences (NS), the dynamics of physical information in NS, and information epistemology and knowledge on neuronal information processing, which help in understanding the effects of information in human cultural and political decision making.

This remarkable volume attests to the world-wide development of a hermeneutical approach to the natural sciences. Questions raised by the essays include: What is a phenomenology of `scientific' perception? How does meaning arise out of laboratory situations? How do individuals or groups come to terms with the particular problem situations in which they find themselves by drawing on the available conceptual and practical resources which structure these situations? The essays are organized around three central themes. One group of authors (Heelan, Kockelmans, and Gremmen/Jacobs) recalls and applies existing historical resources of hermeneutical phenomenology to current scientific and social issues. A second group (Kisiel, Eger) considers the differences between a specifically hermeneutical approach to science and related approaches such as cultural studies and social constructivism. A third group (Ihde, Gendlin) seeks to forge new directions and tools for understanding natural scientific practice. As Crease's introductory essay makes plain, the authors share the commitment of hermeneutical philosophy to the priority of meaning over technique, the primacy of the practical over the theoretical, and the priority of situation over abstract formulation. In the process, the authors revive and transform the ancient Greek idea that the key to living well, to being fully and authentically human, resides primarily in the exercise of the practical not the theoretical virtues, in the art of doing well in the workworld and acting well in the polis