An Epistemic Foundation For Scientific Realism

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An Epistemic Foundation for Scientific Realism

Author : John Wright
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3030022188
Total Pages : 220 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (3 download)

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Book Synopsis An Epistemic Foundation for Scientific Realism by : John Wright

Download or read book An Epistemic Foundation for Scientific Realism written by John Wright and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-11-02 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This monograph develops a new way of justifying the claims made by science about phenomenon not directly observable by humans, such as atoms and black holes. It details a way of making inferences to the existence and properties of unobservable entities and states of affairs that can be given a probabilistic justification. The inferences used to establish realist claims are not a form of, and neither do they rely on, inference to the best explanation. Scientific Realism maintains that scientific theories and hypotheses refer to real entities, forces, and relations, even if one cannot examine them. But, there are those who doubt these claims. The author develops a novel way of defending Scientific Realism against a range of influential attacks. He argues that in some cases, at least, we can make probabilistically justifiable inferences from observed data to claims about unobservable, theoretical entities. He shows how this enables us to place some scientific realist claims on a firmer epistemological footing than has previously been the case. This also makes it possible to give a unified set of replies to the most common objections to Scientific Realism. The final chapters apply the developed conceptual apparatus to key cases from the history of science and from recent science. One example concerns realism with respect to atoms. Another looks at inferences from recent astronomical data to conclusions about the size and shape of those parts of the universe lying beyond that which we can observe.

A Metaphysics for Scientific Realism

Author : Anjan Chakravartty
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1139468391
Total Pages : 235 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (394 download)

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Book Synopsis A Metaphysics for Scientific Realism by : Anjan Chakravartty

Download or read book A Metaphysics for Scientific Realism written by Anjan Chakravartty and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2007-10-18 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientific realism is the view that our best scientific theories give approximately true descriptions of both observable and unobservable aspects of a mind-independent world. Debates between realists and their critics are at the very heart of the philosophy of science. Anjan Chakravartty traces the contemporary evolution of realism by examining the most promising strategies adopted by its proponents in response to the forceful challenges of antirealist sceptics, resulting in a positive proposal for scientific realism today. He examines the core principles of the realist position, and sheds light on topics including the varieties of metaphysical commitment required, and the nature of the conflict between realism and its empiricist rivals. By illuminating the connections between realist interpretations of scientific knowledge and the metaphysical foundations supporting them, his book offers a compelling vision of how realism can provide an internally consistent and coherent account of scientific knowledge.

A Critical Introduction to Scientific Realism

Author : Paul Dicken
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1472575881
Total Pages : 244 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (725 download)

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Book Synopsis A Critical Introduction to Scientific Realism by : Paul Dicken

Download or read book A Critical Introduction to Scientific Realism written by Paul Dicken and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-07-28 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What are the reasons for believing scientific theories to be true? The contemporary debate around scientific realism exposes questions about the very nature of scientific knowledge. A Critical Introduction to Scientific Realism explores and advances the main topics of the debate, allowing epistemologists to make new connections with the philosophy of science. Moving from its origins in logical positivism to some of the most recent issues discussed in the literature, this critical introduction covers the no-miracles argument, the pessimistic meta-induction and structural realism. Placing arguments in their historical context, Paul Dicken approaches scientific realism debate as a particular instance of our more general epistemological investigations. The recurrent theme is that the scientific realism debate is in fact a pseudo-philosophical question. Concerned with the methodology of the scientific realism debate, Dicken asks what it means to offer an epistemological assessment of our scientific practices. Taking those practices as a guide to our epistemological reflections, A Critical Introduction to Scientific Realism fills a gap in current introductory texts and presents a fresh approach to understanding a crucial debate.

New Approaches to Scientific Realism

Author : Wenceslao J. Gonzalez
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN 13 : 3110662671
Total Pages : 486 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (16 download)

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Book Synopsis New Approaches to Scientific Realism by : Wenceslao J. Gonzalez

Download or read book New Approaches to Scientific Realism written by Wenceslao J. Gonzalez and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2020-08-24 with total page 486 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientific realism is at the core of the contemporary philosophical debate on science. This book analyzes new versions of scientific realism. It makes explicit the advantages of scientific realism over alternatives and antagonists, contributes to deciding which of the new approaches better meets the descriptive and the prescriptive criteria, and expands the philosophico-methodological field to take in new topics and disciplines.

Critical Scientific Realism

Author : Ilkka Niiniluoto
Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 0191519405
Total Pages : 356 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (915 download)

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Book Synopsis Critical Scientific Realism by : Ilkka Niiniluoto

Download or read book Critical Scientific Realism written by Ilkka Niiniluoto and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 1999-12-09 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ilkka Niiniluoto comes to the rescue of scientific realism, showing that reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated. Philosophical realism holds that the aim of a particular discourse is to make true statements about its subject-matter. Niiniluoto surveys the different varieties of realism in ontology, semantics, epistemology, theory construction, and methodology. He then sets out his own original version, and defends it against competing theories in the philosophy of science. Niiniluoto's critical scientific realism is founded upon the notion of truth as correspondence between language and reality, and characterizes scientific progress in terms of increasing truthlikeness. This makes it possible not only to take seriously, but also to make precise, the troublesome idea that scientific theories typically are false but nevertheless close to the truth.

Embracing Scientific Realism

Author : Seungbae Park
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3030878139
Total Pages : 249 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (38 download)

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Book Synopsis Embracing Scientific Realism by : Seungbae Park

Download or read book Embracing Scientific Realism written by Seungbae Park and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-12-02 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides philosophers of science with new theoretical resources for making their own contributions to the scientific realism debate. Readers will encounter old and new arguments for and against scientific realism. They will also be given useful tips for how to provide influential formulations of scientific realism and antirealism. Finally, they will see how scientific realism relates to scientific progress, scientific understanding, mathematical realism, and scientific practice.

Scientific Realism and the Rationality of Science

Author : Howard Sankey
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317058801
Total Pages : 174 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (17 download)

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Book Synopsis Scientific Realism and the Rationality of Science by : Howard Sankey

Download or read book Scientific Realism and the Rationality of Science written by Howard Sankey and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-01 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientific realism is the position that the aim of science is to advance on truth and increase knowledge about observable and unobservable aspects of the mind-independent world which we inhabit. This book articulates and defends that position. In presenting a clear formulation and addressing the major arguments for scientific realism Sankey appeals to philosophers beyond the community of, typically Anglo-American, analytic philosophers of science to appreciate and understand the doctrine. The book emphasizes the epistemological aspects of scientific realism and contains an original solution to the problem of induction that rests on an appeal to the principle of uniformity of nature.

Scientific Realism

Author : Jarrett Leplin
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520337441
Total Pages : 276 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (23 download)

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Book Synopsis Scientific Realism by : Jarrett Leplin

Download or read book Scientific Realism written by Jarrett Leplin and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2023-04-28 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1984.

A Novel Defense of Scientific Realism

Author : Jarrett Leplin
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780195354379
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (543 download)

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Book Synopsis A Novel Defense of Scientific Realism by : Jarrett Leplin

Download or read book A Novel Defense of Scientific Realism written by Jarrett Leplin and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1997-08-07 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vigorous and controversial, this book develops a sustained argument for a realist interpretation of science, based on a new analysis of the concept of predictive novelty. Identifying a form of success achieved in science--the successful prediction of novel empirical results--which can be explained only by attributing some measure of truth to the theories that yield it, Jarrett Leplin demonstrates the incapacity of nonrealist accounts to accommodate novel success and constructs a deft realist explanation of novelty. To test the applicability of novel success as a standard of warrant for theories, Leplin examines current directions in theoretical physics, fashioning a powerful critique of currently developing standards of evaluation. Arguing that explanatory uniqueness warrants inference, and exposing flaws in contending philosophical positions that sever explanatory power from epistemic justification, Leplin holds that abductive, or explanatory, inference is as fundamental as enumerative or eliminative inference, and contends that neither induction nor abduction can proceed without the other on pain of generating paradoxes. Leplin's conception of novelty has two basic components: an independence condition, ensuring that a result novel for a theory have no essential role, even indirectly, in the theory's provenance; and a uniqueness condition, ensuring that no competing theory provides a basis for predicting the same result. Showing that alternative approaches to novelty fall short in both respects, Leplin proceeds to a series of test cases, engaging prominent scientific theories from nineteenth-century accounts of light to modern cosmology in an effort to demonstrate the epistemological superiority of his view. Ambitious and tightly argued, A Novel Defense of Scientific Realism advances new positions on major topics in philosophy of science and offers a version of realism as original as it is compelling, making it essential reading for philosophers of science, epistemologists, and scholars in science studies.

The Instrument of Science

Author : Darrell P. Rowbottom
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 0429663579
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (296 download)

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Book Synopsis The Instrument of Science by : Darrell P. Rowbottom

Download or read book The Instrument of Science written by Darrell P. Rowbottom and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-03-25 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Roughly, instrumentalism is the view that science is primarily, and should primarily be, an instrument for furthering our practical ends. It has fallen out of favour because historically influential variants of the view, such as logical positivism, suffered from serious defects. In this book, however, Darrell P. Rowbottom develops a new form of instrumentalism, which is more sophisticated and resilient than its predecessors. This position—‘cognitive instrumentalism’—involves three core theses. First, science makes theoretical progress primarily when it furnishes us with more predictive power or understanding concerning observable things. Second, scientific discourse concerning unobservable things should only be taken literally in so far as it involves observable properties or analogies with observable things. Third, scientific claims about unobservable things are probably neither approximately true nor liable to change in such a way as to increase in truthlikeness. There are examples from science throughout the book, and Rowbottom demonstrates at length how cognitive instrumentalism fits with the development of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century chemistry and physics, and especially atomic theory. Drawing upon this history, Rowbottom also argues that there is a kind of understanding, empirical understanding, which we can achieve without having true, or even approximately true, representations of unobservable things. In closing the book, he sets forth his view on how the distinction between the observable and unobservable may be drawn, and compares cognitive instrumentalism with key contemporary alternatives such as structural realism, constructive empiricism, and semirealism. Overall, this book offers a strong defence of instrumentalism that will be of interest to scholars and students working on the debate about realism in philosophy of science.

Scientific Realism

Author : Stathis Psillos
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134619820
Total Pages : 360 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (346 download)

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Book Synopsis Scientific Realism by : Stathis Psillos

Download or read book Scientific Realism written by Stathis Psillos and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-08-02 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientific realism is the optimistic view that modern science is on the right track. This book argues that the history of science does not undermine this notion, suggesting it as the best philosophical account of science.

Scientific Realism and the Plasticity of Mind

Author : Paul M. Churchland
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521338271
Total Pages : 172 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (382 download)

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Book Synopsis Scientific Realism and the Plasticity of Mind by : Paul M. Churchland

Download or read book Scientific Realism and the Plasticity of Mind written by Paul M. Churchland and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1979 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study in the philosophy of science, proposing a strong form of the doctrine of scientific realism' and developing its implications for issues in the philosophy of mind.

Studies in Scientific Realism

Author : Andre Kukla
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780195353341
Total Pages : 192 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (533 download)

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Book Synopsis Studies in Scientific Realism by : Andre Kukla

Download or read book Studies in Scientific Realism written by Andre Kukla and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1998-04-30 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a superbly clear analysis of the standard arguments for and against scientific realism. In surveying claims on both sides of the debate, Kukla organizes them in ways that expose unnoticed connections. He identifies broad patterns of error, reconciles seemingly incompatible positions, and discovers unoccupied positions with the potential to influence further debate. Kukla's overall assessment is that neither the realists nor the antirealists may claim a decisive victory.

Science, Action, and Reality

Author : R. Tuomela
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 9400954468
Total Pages : 282 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (9 download)

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Book Synopsis Science, Action, and Reality by : R. Tuomela

Download or read book Science, Action, and Reality written by R. Tuomela and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Were one to characterize the aims of this book ambitiously, it could be said to sketch the philosophical foundations or underpinnings of the scientific world view or, better, of the scientific conception of the world. In any case, it develops a comprehensive philosophical view, one which takes science seri ously as the best method for getting to know the ontological aspects of the world. This view is a kind of scientific realism - causal internal realism, as it is dubbed in the book. This brand of realism is "tough" in matters of ontology but "soft" in matters of semantics and epistemology. An ancestor of the book was published in Finnish under the title Tiede, toiminta ja todellisuus (Gaudeamus, 1983). That book is a shortish undergraduate-level monograph. However, as some research-level chapters have been added, the present book is perhaps best regarded as suited for more advanced readers. I completed the book while my stay at the University of Wisconsin in Madison as a Visiting Professor under the Exchange Program between the Universities of Wisconsin and Helsinki. I gratefully acknowledge this support. I also wish to thank Juhani Saalo and Martti Kuokkanen for comments on the manuscript and for editorial help. Dr Matti Sintonen translated the Finnish ancestor of this book into English, to be used as a partial basis for this work. His translation was supported by a grant from Suomalaisen kirjallisuuden edistamisvarat. Finally, and as usual, I wish to thank Mrs.

The Routledge Handbook of Scientific Realism

Author : Juha Saatsi
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351362917
Total Pages : 456 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (513 download)

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Book Synopsis The Routledge Handbook of Scientific Realism by : Juha Saatsi

Download or read book The Routledge Handbook of Scientific Realism written by Juha Saatsi and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-11-22 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientific realism is a central, long-standing, and hotly debated topic in philosophy of science. Debates about scientific realism concern the very nature and extent of scientific knowledge and progress. Scientific realists defend a positive epistemic attitude towards our best theories and models regarding how they represent the world that is unobservable to our naked senses. Various realist theses are under sceptical fire from scientific antirealists, e.g. empiricists and instrumentalists. The different dimensions of the ensuing debate centrally connect to numerous other topics in philosophy of science and beyond. The Routledge Handbook of Scientific Realism is an outstanding reference source – the first collection of its kind – to the key issues, positions, and arguments in this important topic. Its thirty-four chapters, written by a team of international experts, are divided into five parts: Historical development of the realist stance Classic debate: core issues and positions Perspectives on contemporary debates The realism debate in disciplinary context Broader reflections In these sections, the core issues and debates presented, analysed, and set into broader historical and disciplinary contexts. The central issues covered include motivations and arguments for realism; challenges to realism from underdetermination and history of science; different variants of realism; the connection of realism to relativism and perspectivism; and the relationship between realism, metaphysics, and epistemology. The Routledge Handbook of Scientific Realism is essential reading for students and researchers in philosophy of science. It will also be very useful for anyone interested in the nature and extent of scientific knowledge.

Contemporary Scientific Realism

Author : Timothy D. Lyons
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0197554636
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (975 download)

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Book Synopsis Contemporary Scientific Realism by : Timothy D. Lyons

Download or read book Contemporary Scientific Realism written by Timothy D. Lyons and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-06-08 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientific realists claim we can justifiably believe that science is getting at the truth. However, they have faced historical challenges: various episodes across history appear to demonstrate that even strongly supported scientific theories can be overturned and left behind. In response, realists have developed new positions and arguments. As a result of specific challenges from the history of science, and realist responses, we find ourselves with an ever-increasing dataset bearing on the (possible) relationship between science and truth. The present volume introduces new historical cases impacting the debate and advances the discussion of cases that have only very recently been introduced. At the same time, shifts in philosophical positions affect the very kind of case study that is relevant. Thus, the historical work must proceed hand in hand with philosophical analysis of the different positions and arguments in play. It is with this in mind that the volume is divided into two sections, entitled "Historical Cases for the Debate" and "Contemporary Scientific Realism." All sides agree that historical cases are informative with regard to how, or whether, science connects with truth. Defying proclamations as early as the 1980s announcing the death knell of the scientific realism debate, here is that rare thing: a philosophical debate making steady and definite progress. Moreover, the progress it is making concerns one of humanity's most profound and important questions: the relationship between science and truth, or, put more boldly, the epistemic relation between humankind and the reality in which we find ourselves.

Varieties of Scientific Realism

Author : Evandro Agazzi
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319516086
Total Pages : 405 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (195 download)

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Book Synopsis Varieties of Scientific Realism by : Evandro Agazzi

Download or read book Varieties of Scientific Realism written by Evandro Agazzi and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-03-08 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a comprehensive update on the scientific realism debate, enabling readers to gain a novel appreciation of the role of objectivity and truth in science and to understand fully the various ways in which antirealist conceptions have been subjected to challenge over recent decades. Authoritative representatives of different philosophical traditions explain their perspectives on the meaning and validity of scientific realism and describe the strategies being adopted to counter persisting antirealist positions. The coverage extends beyond the usual discussion of realism within the context of the natural sciences, and especially physics, to encompass also its applicability in mathematics, logic, and the human sciences. The book will appeal to all with an interest in the recent realist epistemologies of science, the nature of current philosophical debate, and the ongoing rehabilitation of truth as the legitimate goal of scientific research.