Abstract: This book has two principal aims: to investigate the conceptual structure of classical electrodynamics, and show that investigating a particular scientific theory can shed light on concerns in the general philosophy of science. It focuses on two basic issues on the interaction between charged particles and classical fields. First, what is the equation of motion of a charged particle interacting with an electromagnetic field? Second, how does the presence of charged particles or sources affect the total field? The book is divided into two parts. Part I focuses on particles — different particle equations of motion and their properties. Part II focuses on fields and their symmetry properties in the presence of particles.

Keywords: classical electrodynamics, scientific theory, philosophy of science, charged particles, electromagnetic fields