Claims that science may becoming 'self-fulfilling' through its impact on objects of study have
recently risen to prominence. Despite radical statements about the supposed consequences of
such accounts however the central notion of scientific self-fulfillment has remained obscure
leading to skewed views of its actual prevalence and significance. Self-Fulfilling Science
illuminates this underexplored phenomenon drawing on insights from philosophy of science to
address questions of its conceptualization prevalence and significance. The book critically
engages with the popular notion that economic theories of homo economicus exhibit
self-fulfillment and explores its relevance to various metaphysical ethical and epistemic
issues. Extreme claims of fundamental incompatibility with our usual notions of scientific
success are ill-founded. Instead self-fulfillment's true epistemic significance lies in more
local nuanced philosophical issues such as theory evaluation and the thesis of
underdetermination. In presenting a novel framework this book facilitates deeper engagement
with the developing field of self-fulfilling science and is of interest to philosophers of
science social scientists and social constructionists.
