New Approaches to Scientific Realism

Description

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. Contents Novelty in Scientific Realism: New Approaches to an Ongoing Debate I New Framework for the Realism and Anti-realism Debate Scientific Realism: What’s All the Fuss? Scientific Realism and Three Problems for Inference to the Best Explanation Scientific Realism and the Conflict with Common Sense II Approaches based on History and Scientific Realism Evolving Realities: Scientific Prediction and Objectivity from the Perspective of Historical Epistemology Do Cognitive Illusions Make Scientific Realism Deceptively Attractive? III Logical Approaches in Realist Terms Against Paraconsistentism Stratified Nomic Realism IV Logico-Epistemological Structural Realism and Instrumental Realism Structural Realism: The Only Defensible Realist Game in Town? Mathematical Language and the Changing Concept of Physical Reality V New Developments on Critical Scientific Realism and Pragmatic Realism Interdisciplinarity from the Perspective of Critical Scientific Realism Pragmatic Realism and Scientific Prediction: The Role of Complexity VI Realism on Causality and Representation Realism and AIM (Action, Intervention, Manipulation) Theories of Causality Is Physics Biased Against Alternative Possibilities? VII Realist Accounts on Objectivity and Facts Realistic Components in the Conception of Pragmatic Idealism: The Role of Objectivity and the Notion of “Fact” “Heard Enough from the Experts”? A Popperian Enquiry Realism in Archaeology – A Philosophical Perspective VIII Realism and the Social World: From Social Sciences to the Sciences of the Artificial A Structural Realist Approach to International Relations Theory Objectivity and Truth in Sciences of Communication and the Case of the Internet Index of Names Subject Index