Realism and Explanatory Priority

✍ Scribed by John Wright (auth.)

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 343
• Series: Philosophical Studies Series 71
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

One of the central areas of concern in late twentieth-century philosophy is the debate between Realism and anti-Realism. But the precise nature of the issues that form the focus of the debate remains controversial. In Realism and Explanatory Priority a new way of viewing the debate is developed. The primary focus is not on the notions of existence, truth or reference, but rather on independence. A notion of independence is developed using concepts derived from the theory of explanation. It is argued that this approach enables us to clarify the exact nature of the empirical evidence that would be required to establish Realism in any area. The author defends a restricted form of Realism, which he calls Nomic Structuralism.
The book will be suitable for professional philosophers of language, science and metaphysics, and their graduate students.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-ix
Introductory Remarks....Pages 1-10
What is the Realism/Anti-Realism Issue?....Pages 11-53
A Theory of Dependence....Pages 54-97
The Explanatory Priority View of the Realism/Anti-Realism Issue....Pages 98-124
Arguments for a Weak form of Realism....Pages 125-140
A Strategy for Determining the Scope of Realism....Pages 141-151
Does Novel Success Need to be Explained by Truth?....Pages 152-187
Epistemic Truth and the Explanation of Novel Confirmation....Pages 188-232
The Arguments Against Realism....Pages 233-270
The Evidence for Realism — I Evidence for Truth That is Independent of the Epistemic....Pages 271-299
The Evidence for Realism — II: The Evidence for Independence from Discourse....Pages 300-322
Back Matter....Pages 323-334

✦ Subjects

Epistemology; Metaphysics; Philosophy of Language; Philosophy of Science