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Scientific Theories Are Intellectual Constructs
We are experiencing the birth pangs of a new era in the lives of the Homo sapiens because of rapid advances in AI, robotics, and automation and the...
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Revisiting the Scientific Nature of Multiverse Theories
Some scientists or philosophers argue that multiverse theories are unfalsifiable and thus not scientific. However, some advocates of multiverse...
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Scientific Realism from a Polysystemic View of Physical Theories and their Functioning
One of the vividly discussed topics in the contemporary philosophy of science (especially physics) is the opposition between Realism and...
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‘Does the Claim that there are no Theories Imply that there is no History of Theories to be Written?(!)’*
In There Are No Such Things As Theories (French
2020 ), the reification of theories is critically analysed and rejected. My aim here is to tease out... -
What Is a Scientific Theory?
In this chapter I first present the objectifying attitude, which is characteristic of science, in contrast with the holistic attitude, which is...
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The pragmatic turn in the scientific realism debate
In recent years there has been a noticeable yet largely unacknowledged ‘pragmatic turn’ in the scientific realism debate, inspired in part by van...
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Emergence, Continuity, and Scientific Realism
Scientific realism postulates that science aims for truth in both the domains of the observable and the unobservable, and is capable of achieving...
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Moderate Realism and Deduction from Truthlike Theories
Moderate realists hold that scientific theories are truthlike, rather than exactly true. Although scientific realism has been challenged by arguments...
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When to dismiss conspiracy theories out of hand
Given that conspiracies exist, can we be justified in dismissing conspiracy theories without concerning ourselves with specific details? I answer...
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Scientific Realism: What Is at Stake?
This chapter begins by discussing what Bas van Fraassen called “the loss of reality objection”. Since models are constructed by our action of...
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Scientific Realism: A Defence
In the present chapter, I propose a way of defending epistemological scientific realism that differs from the usual explanationist strategies....
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Physicists’ views on scientific realism
Do physicists believe that general relativity is true , and that electrons and phonons exist , and if so, in what sense? To what extent does the...
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Running Mice and Successful Theories: The Limitations of a Classical Analogy
Bas van Fraassen’s Darwinian explanation for the success of science has sparked four decades of discussion, with scientific realists and antirealists...
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True Religion as True Philosophy: Its Intellectual, Emotional and Moral Aspects
For Hume, the so-called popular superstition is a corrupted form of true religion, with the latter constituting a type of worship whose role is to...
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Can Alternative Scientific Theories Challenge Scientific Rationality?
One of the reasons for relativistic attitudes toward science is the impossibility of justifying scientists’ decisions in the face of alternative...
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Understanding Defective Theories
Here, we deal with the question of under which circumstances can scientists achieve a legitimate understanding of defective theories qua defective....
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Medical Conspiracy Theories
Medical conspiracy theories have existed for a long time, but they have become more pronounced in recent times. This represents a major obstacle to...
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Once upon a time in superspace: the diegetic ideal for the interpretation of physical theories
This paper offers a novel argument for superspace substantivalism. Superspace is a modified spacetime represented formally through combining ordinary...
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On the origin of conspiracy theories
Conspiracy theories are rather a popular topic these days, and a lot has been written on things like the meaning of conspiracy theory , whether it’s...
