In The Routledge Handbook of Scientific Realism. London: Routledge. pp. 200-211 (2018)
| Authors |
|
| Abstract |
This chapter examines issues surrounding inference to the best explanation, its justification, and its role in different arguments for scientific realism, as well as more general issues concerning explanations’ ontological commitments. Defending the reliability of inference to the best explanation has been a central plank in various realist arguments, and realists have drawn various ontological conclusions from the premise that a given scientific explanation best explains some phenomenon. This chapter stresses the importance of thinking carefully about the nature of explanation in connection with evaluating realists’ appeals to explanatory reasoning and inference to the best explanation.
|
| Keywords | Scientific realism Scientific Explanation Inference to the best explanation |
| Categories | (categorize this paper) |
| Buy the book |
Find it on Amazon.com
|
| Options |
Mark as duplicate
Export citation
Request removal from index
|
Download options
References found in this work BETA
Scientific Explanation and the Causal Structure of the World.Wesley C. Salmon - 1984 - Princeton University Press.
Explaining the Brain: Mechanisms and the Mosaic Unity of Neuroscience.Carl F. Craver - 2007 - Oxford University Press, Clarendon Press.
View all 56 references / Add more references
Citations of this work BETA
Realism and Explanatory Perspectivism.Juha Saatsi - forthcoming - In Michela Massimi & C. D. McCoy (eds.), Understanding Perspectivism: Scientific Challenges and Methodological Prospects. New York: Routledge.
The Middle Way to Reality: on Why I Am Not a Buddhist and Other Philosophical Curiosities.Christian Coseru - 2021 - Sophia 60 (3):1-24.
On Pursuing the Dialogue Between Buddhism and Science in Ways That Distort Neither.Christian Coseru - 2021 - APA Newsletter on Asian and Asian American Philosophers and Philosophies 20 (2):8-15.
Similar books and articles
Two Cornell Realisms: Moral and Scientific.Elliott Sober - 2015 - Philosophical Studies 172 (4):905-924.
Should Scientific Realists Be Platonists?Jacob Busch & Joe Morrison - 2016 - Synthese 193 (2):435-449.
Default Privilege and Bad Lots: Underconsideration and Explanatory Inference.Kareem Khalifa - 2010 - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 24 (1):91 – 105.
Explanation and Explanationism in Science and Metaphysics.Juha Saatsi - forthcoming - In Matthew Slater & Zanja Yudell (eds.), Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Science: New Essays. Oxford University Press.
Why the Ultimate Argument for Scientific Realism Ultimately Fails.Moti Mizrahi - 2012 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 43 (1):132-138.
Explanatory Warrant for Scientific Realism.Robert Pierson & Richard Reiner - 2008 - Synthese 161 (2):271 - 282.
Abduction and Scientific Realism.Ilkka Niiniluoto - 2007 - The Proceedings of the Twenty-First World Congress of Philosophy 12:137-142.
Levin and Ghins on the “No Miracle” Argument and Naturalism.Mario Alai - 2012 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 2 (1):85-110.
Belief is Not the Issue: A Defence of Inference to the Best Explanation.Gregory W. Dawes - 2013 - Ratio 26 (1):62-78.
Abduction and Scientific Realism.Ilkka Niiniluoto - 2007 - The Proceedings of the Twenty-First World Congress of Philosophy 12:137-142.
Defending Scientific Realism Without Relying on Inference to the Best Explanation.Michel Ghins - 2017 - Axiomathes 27 (6):635-651.
Could Theoretical Entities Save Realism?Mohamed Elsamahi - 1994 - In David & Richard Hull & Burian (ed.), PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association. pp. 173 - 180.
Reliabilism and the Abductive Defence of Scientific Realism.Valeriano Iranzo - 2008 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 39 (1):115-120.
Analytics
Added to PP index
2018-02-25
Total views
568 ( #14,861 of 2,504,817 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
51 ( #16,906 of 2,504,817 )
2018-02-25
Total views
568 ( #14,861 of 2,504,817 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
51 ( #16,906 of 2,504,817 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads
