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Modal Empiricism

Part of the Synthese Library Book Series (volume 440)

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-72349-1

ISBN: 978-3-030-72348-4

Publisher: Springer International Publishing - Springer Journals

Mar 9, 2021

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The Debates on Scientific Realism

Ruyant, Quentin

Pages: 1 –12

[The debate on scientific realism results from a tension between the empiricist methodology, which is a defining feature of science, and claims to the effect that science can unveil the fundamental nature of reality. What distinguishes realist and anti-realist positions is not necessarily that...
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Theories, Models and Representation

Ruyant, Quentin

Pages: 13 –33

[Before discussing what the aim of science could be and whether it is achievable, it is important to be clear on what scientific theories are and how they are used to represent the world. This chapter proposes a synthesis of the literature on the subject, in particular the motivations for...
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Contextual Use and Communal Norms

Ruyant, Quentin

Pages: 35 –72

[This chapter presents the conception of scientific representation and theories used in this book. Its aim is to clearly articulate the contextual aspects of representational uses and the unificatory power of scientific theories. This is done by means of a two-stage account of representation. The...
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Modal Empirical Adequacy

Ruyant, Quentin

Pages: 73 –110

[Empirical adequacy, taken to be an ideal aim for theories, is undoubtedly an important notion for understanding scientific practice, and indeed the most important notion for an empiricist. This chapter examines empirical adequacy from the perspective of the account of scientific representation...
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Situated Possibilities, Induction and Necessity

Ruyant, Quentin

Pages: 111 –147

[Modal empiricism is the position according to which the aim of science is to produce theories that correctly account for all possible manipulations and observations we could make in their domain of application in a unified way. This chapter analyses the kind of modalities to which modal...
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Scientific Success

Ruyant, Quentin

Pages: 149 –182

[One of the main motivations for scientific realism is that it would explain the “miraculous success” of science, in particular the successful extension of theories to new domains of experience. After recalling the reasons to doubt the validity of the realist strategy, and in particular, the idea...
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Theory Change

Ruyant, Quentin

Pages: 183 –207

[The induction on models presented in the previous chapter brings modal empiricism close to structural realism in some respects. In this chapter, I examine the differences between the two. I review the main motivation for structural realism, which is to account for a continuity in theory change,...
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Semantic Pragmatism

Ruyant, Quentin

Pages: 209 –230

[Modal empiricism can simultaneously provide a faithful picture of the functioning of science and respond to the epistemic challenges of the debate on scientific realism. If we accept it, why maintain a gap between our semantic theories concerning the content of scientific theories and what we...

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