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Unification and Scientific Realism Revisited

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2023

Malcolm R. Forster
Malcolm R. Forster*
Affiliation:
Monash University
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Extract

Section 2 will begin by formulating Reichenbach’s principle of common cause in a more general way than is usual but in a way that makes the idea behind it a lot clearer. The way that Salmon has pushed the principle into the services of scientific realism will be explained in terms of an example, van Fraassen objects, Salmon modifies his stand and van Fraassen rejoins - all in section 2. (See van Fraassen 1980, chapter 2).

In this episode I think van Fraassen right in claiming - against Salmon that there is no categorical imperative for common cause explanation, and I add my own examples in section 3. The first example ‘is the explanation of the correlation between the equilibrium positions of two objects on a balance in terms of their property of “mass” and the law of moments.

Type
Part VI. General Philosophy of Science (B)
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1986 , Issue 1: Volume One: Contributed Papers 1986 , 1986 , pp. 394 - 405
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1986

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Footnotes

1

Sincere thanks go to Professor Peter Finch and especially to Professor Cliff Hooker for useful feedback on the paper. As always, the final responsibility for errors and oversights are mine.

References

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