Knowra Scientific realism Scientific realism Scientific realism is the philosophical view that successful scientific theories describe a mind-independent world, including entities and structures that cannot be directly observed.
Scientific instrumentalism : The view that scientific theories are tools for prediction and organization rather than necessarily true descriptions of reality. It accepts predictive success while withholding realism’s claim that theories describe unobservable reality.
No miracles argument : The argument that the predictive success of mature science would be inexplicable if its theories were not approximately true. It turns scientific success into evidence for the approximate truth realism asserts.
Pierre Duhem : A French physicist and philosopher who argued that hypotheses are tested in groups rather than in isolation. His account of testing helped frame later disputes about how evidence supports theories.
Scientific explanation : The practice of showing why or how a phenomenon occurs using laws, mechanisms, causes, or models. Realists often treat explanations involving unobservable mechanisms as claims about actual features of the world.
Scientific progress : Improvement in scientific knowledge, explanatory power, predictive performance, or problem-solving over time. Realism interprets progress partly as increasing knowledge of a mind-independent world.
Constructive empiricism : Bas van Fraassen’s view that science aims at empirically adequate theories, not necessarily true accounts of unobservable entities. It treats acceptance of a theory as belief in its observable claims, not its hidden entities.
Pessimistic induction : The argument that past successful theories were later rejected, so current success may not indicate truth. It challenges the inference from a theory’s success to its truth.
Rudolf Carnap : A German-born philosopher associated with logical positivism and the analysis of scientific language. His treatment of theoretical language helped set the terms of mid-century realism debates.
Unobservable entities : Entities such as electrons and quarks that cannot be perceived directly with unaided human senses. Belief in such entities is a central commitment that distinguishes realism from empiricist alternatives.
Theory change : The replacement, revision, or transformation of scientific theories over time. Successive theories test whether scientific change preserves truths about reality or discards them.
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