Theory, observation and scientific realism

British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 55 (3):371-392 (2004)
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Abstract

A normative constraint on theories about objects which we take to be real is explored: such theories are required to track the properties of the objects which they are theories of. Epistemic views in which observation (and generalizations of it) play a central role, and holist views which see epistemic virtues as applicable only to whole theories, are contrasted in the light of this constraint. It's argued that global-style epistemic virtues can't meet the constraint, although (certain) epistemic views within which observation (and, more generally, thick epistemic access) are centralized do meet it.

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Jody Azzouni
Tufts University

Citations of this work

Theory and observation in science.Jim Bogen - 2009 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
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On the Limits of Experimental Knowledge.Peter Evans & Karim P. Y. Thebault - 2020 - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 378 (2177).

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References found in this work

The scientific image.C. Van Fraassen Bas - 1980 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Sense and Sensibilia.John Langshaw Austin - 1962 - Oxford University Press. Edited by G. Warnock.
Representing and Intervening.Ian Hacking - 1983 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 35 (4):381-390.
Sense and Sensibilia.J. L. Austin - 1962 - Oxford University Press USA.

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