Realism and Scientific Failure

• Originally put forward by Smart and Maxwell in the 1960’s, and later revived by Putnam (1975) and Boyd (1984), the no miracle argument for scientific realism has been much discussed. In this paper, I try to repudiate an anti- realist charge of circularity on the argument, here further scrutinized through a recent formulation due to Stathis Psillos (1999). Moreover, I attempt to turn the tables around on the anti-realists by arguing that they can hardly be said be able to explain the disheartening historical picture suggested by some of their own arguments, especially the ones pertaining to the famous pessimistic induction.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Filosofi, etik och religion -- Filosofi (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion -- Philosophy (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Vetenskaplig realism

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