The Realism/Antirealism Debate in the Philosophy of Science

Radu Dudau

ISBN 978-3-8325-0114-3
190 Seiten, Erscheinungsjahr: 2002
Preis: 40.50 €

The present work is a defense of the doctrine of scientific realism. The claim about the independent existence of unobservable scientific entities is contended by some purveyors of social constructivism, the doctrine according to which scientific facts are constructed by social intentional activity.

Science is very successful in two respects: First, scientific theories most of the times entail successful predictions, and, second, science is methodologically successful in generating empirically successful theories. These are not trivial facts. The best explanation for the methodological success of science is its dialectical reliance on theories which are approximately true.

The inability of the opponents of scientific realism to provide causal explanations is the author's main argument. He takes entity realism to be foundational to scientific realism and defends scientific realism from antirealist attacks.