DOCSLIB.ORG

Dissertation Abstract

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Dissertation Abstract SCIENTIFIC ANOMALY AND BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF LOW-DOSE CHEMICALS: ELUCIDATING NORMATIVE ETHICS AND SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Notre Dame in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Kevin Christopher Elliott, B.S., M.A. _________________________________ Kristin S. Shrader-Frechette, Director Graduate Program in History and Philosophy of Science Notre Dame, Indiana April 2004 © Copyright by Kevin C. Elliott 2004 All rights reserved SCIENTIFIC ANOMALY AND BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF LOW-DOSE CHEMICALS: ELUCIDATING NORMATIVE ETHICS AND SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY Abstract by Kevin Christopher Elliott The notion of “anomaly” has persisted for over 2,000 years, but its precise meaning and significance remains unclear. This dissertation analyzes the importance of scientific anomaly both for the philosophy of science and for ethical decision-making that draws on scientific information. In the philosophy of science, it develops a novel account of anomaly. It first provides a conceptual framework for describing anomalies and critically evaluates previous descriptions by Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, Imre Lakatos, Larry Laudan, and Lindley Darden. Using the anomalous contemporary biological phenomenon known as “chemical hormesis” (i.e., beneficial effects from low doses of toxins) as a case study, the dissertation argues for a novel account that emphasizes three features of anomaly. Namely, researchers “characterize” anomalies in multiple ways, scientists use multiple strategies to “confirm” them, and anomalies interact with novel hypotheses in an ongoing, dialectical fashion. The dissertation argues that this account is significant because it facilitates increased understanding of scientific discovery and of the role that value judgments play in science. The ethical component of the dissertation analyzes the ethical ramifications both of the hormesis case in particular and of policy-relevant anomalies in general. Concerning the hormesis case, it argues that current evidence for the anomaly does not provide adequate reason to alter regulatory policy. In the process, the dissertation contributes to metaethics by developing a novel formulation of the naturalistic fallacy and by clarifying its relation to the is/ought distinction. Regarding scientific anomaly in general, the dissertation argues that researchers and policymakers have an ethical responsibility to take reasonable steps to identify, reveal, and provide representative information about all major, plausible characterizations of scientific anomalies to the public or its representatives. This study suggests three rules of thumb (namely, analysis of anomalies via analytic-deliberative processes, elimination and disclosure of conflicts of interest, and research-ethics education on scientists’ social responsibilities) to help researchers meet their ethical responsibilities with respect to anomalies. The dissertation as a whole illustrates how the philosophy of science can contribute not only to greater understanding of scientific reasoning but also to ethical insights for using scientific knowledge. For Janet, whose love never fails ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION........................................................................................1 1.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................1 1.2 Motivation for the Dissertation...................................................................................3 1.3 Chapter Outline...........................................................................................................7 1.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................................11 CHAPTER 2: FIVE ACCOUNTS OF SCIENTIFIC ANOMALY...................................13 2.1 Introduction...............................................................................................................13 2.2 Terminology and Methodology ................................................................................14 2.3 Description of the Previous Accounts ......................................................................32 2.4 Evaluation of the Previous Accounts........................................................................50 2.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................................60 CHAPTER 3: CHEMICAL HORMESIS: A CASE STUDY OF SCIENTIFIC ANOMALY..............................................................................................................61 3.1 Introduction...............................................................................................................61 3.2 Overview of Hormesis Research ..............................................................................65 3.3 Analysis of the Hormesis Anomaly Relative to Previous Descriptive Conclusions 84 3.4 Analysis of the Hormesis Anomaly Relative to Previous Explanatory Conclusions.............................................................................................................116 3.5 Significance of the Chapter’s Analysis of the Hormesis Case ...............................128 3.6 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................134 CHAPTER 4: A DIACHRONIC ACCOUNT OF ANOMALY .....................................135 4.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................135 4.2 Motivation and Methodology for Developing Account D......................................136 4.3 Argument for Account D ........................................................................................145 4.4 Significance of Account D......................................................................................173 4.5 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................193 CHAPTER 5: CHEMICAL HORMESIS AND THE IS/OUGHT DISTINCTION........195 5.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................195 5.2 Reconstruction of Claim R .....................................................................................197 5.3 Background on the NF and the IOD .......................................................................226 5.4 Eight Objections to Moore’s Description of the NF...............................................234 5.5 An Alternative Formulation of the NF ...................................................................242 iii 5.6 The Connection Between NF* and IOD.................................................................260 5.7 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................271 CHAPTER 6: CHEMICAL HORMESIS, PUBLIC HEALTH, AND CONSENT.........274 6.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................274 6.2 Four Problems with Claim R ..................................................................................276 6.3 An Ethical Lesson From the Hormesis Case ..........................................................317 6.4 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................356 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS ...................................358 7.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................358 7.2 Philosophy of Science.............................................................................................359 7.3 Ethics ......................................................................................................................362 7.4 Chemical Hormesis.................................................................................................367 7.5 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................369 APPENDIX 1: CHARACTERIZATIONS OF THE HORMESIS ANOMALY ............370 APPENDIX 2: CHARACTERIZATIONS OF THE ENDOCRINE-DISRUPTION ANOMALY............................................................................................................377 APPENDIX 3: CHARACTERIZATIONS OF THE MULTIPLE-CHEMICAL- SENSITIVTY ANOMALY....................................................................................380 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................385 iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Don Howard, the director of the Program in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Notre Dame, for his diligent leadership of the program throughout my time here. His enthusiasm encouraged me to come to Notre Dame. I am also grateful for two fellowships that I received for my graduate study: a Notre Dame Presidential Fellowship and a Pew Younger Scholars Fellowship from the Pew Charitable Trusts. I would also like to thank several faculty members who have been particularly helpful throughout my graduate career. Ernan McMullin has been a consistent source of encouragement, abundant
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Contemporary Issues Concerning Scientific Realism
    The Future of the Scientific Realism Debate: Contemporary Issues Concerning Scientific Realism Author(s): Curtis Forbes Source: Spontaneous Generations: A Journal for the History and Philosophy of Science, Vol. 9, No. 1 (2018) 1-11. Published by: The University of Toronto DOI: 10.4245/sponge.v9i1. EDITORIALOFFICES Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology Room 316 Victoria College, 91 Charles Street West Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1K7 [email protected] Published online at jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/SpontaneousGenerations ISSN 1913 0465 Founded in 2006, Spontaneous Generations is an online academic journal published by graduate students at the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto. There is no subscription or membership fee. Spontaneous Generations provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. The Future of the Scientific Realism Debate: Contemporary Issues Concerning Scientific Realism Curtis Forbes* I. Introduction “Philosophy,” Plato’s Socrates said, “begins in wonder” (Theaetetus, 155d). Two and a half millennia later, Alfred North Whitehead saw fit to add: “And, at the end, when philosophical thought has done its best, the wonder remains” (1938, 168). Nevertheless, we tend to no longer wonder about many questions that would have stumped (if not vexed) the ancients: “Why does water expand when it freezes?” “How can one substance change into another?” “What allows the sun to continue to shine so brightly, day after day, while all other sources of light and warmth exhaust their fuel sources at a rate in proportion to their brilliance?” Whitehead’s addendum to Plato was not wrong, however, in the sense that we derive our answers to such questions from the theories, models, and methods of modern science, not the systems, speculations, and arguments of modern philosophy.
    [Show full text]
  • Theory Choice, Theory Change, and Inductive Truth-Conduciveness
    Theory Choice, Theory Change, and Inductive Truth-Conduciveness Konstantin Genin Kevin T. Kelly Carnegie Mellon University [email protected] [email protected] Konstantin Genin (CMU) May 21, 2015 1 This talk is about ... (1) the synchronic norms of theory choice, (2) the diachronic norms of theory change, and the justification of (1-2) by reliability, or truth-conduciveness. Konstantin Genin (CMU) May 21, 2015 2 This talk is about ... (1) the synchronic norms of theory choice, (2) the diachronic norms of theory change, and (3) the justification of (1-2) by reliability, or truth-conduciveness. Konstantin Genin (CMU) May 21, 2015 3 This talk is about ... (1) the synchronic norms of theory choice, (2) the diachronic norms of theory change, and (3) the justification of (1-2) by reliability, or truth-conduciveness. Konstantin Genin (CMU) May 21, 2015 4 The Norms of Theory Choice Synchronic norms of theory choice restrict the theories one can choose in light of given, empirical information. Konstantin Genin (CMU) May 21, 2015 5 The Norms of Theory Choice: Simplicity Figure: William of Ockham, 1287-1347 All things being equal, prefer simpler theories. Konstantin Genin (CMU) May 21, 2015 6 The Norms of Theory Choice: Falsifiability Figure: Sir Karl Popper, 1902-1994 All things being equal, prefer more falsifiable theories. Konstantin Genin (CMU) May 21, 2015 7 The Norms of Theory Choice: Reliable? Is the simpler / more falsifiable theory more plausible? Yes! Can prior probabilities encode that preference? Yes! Konstantin Genin (CMU) May 21, 2015
    [Show full text]
  • PHYSICS, PHILOSOPHY and PSYCHOANALYSIS Essays in Honor of Adolf Grilnbaum
    PHYSICS, PHILOSOPHY AND PSYCHOANALYSIS Essays in Honor of Adolf Grilnbaum Edited by R. s. COHEN Boston University and L. LAUDAN Virginia Polytechnic Institute D. REIDEL PUBLISHING COMPANY A MEMBER OF THE KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS GROUP DORDRECHT I BOSTON I LANCASTER Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Main entry under title: Physics, philosophy, and psychoanalysis. (Boston studies in the philosophy of science; v. 76) Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Physics-Philo sophy-Addresses, essays, lectures. 2. Philos- ophy-Addresses, essays, lectures. 3. Psychoanalysis-Addresses, essays;lectures. 4. Griinbaum, Adolf. I. Griinbaum, Adolf. II. Cohen, Robert Sonne. III. Series. Q174.B67 vol. 76 [QC6.21 501s 1530'.011 83-4576 ISBN-I3: 978-94-009-7057-1 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-009-7055-7 DOl: 10.1007/978-94-009-7055-7 Published by D. Reidel Publishing Company, P.O. Box 17,3300 AA Dordrecht, Holland. Sold and distributed in the U.S.A. and Canada by Kluwer Boston Inc., 190 Old Derby Street, Hingham, MA 02043, U.S.A. In all other countries, sold and distributed by Kluwer Academic Publishers Group, P.O. Box 322, 3300 AH Dordrecht, Holland. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 1983 by D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland and copyright holders as specified on appropriate pages within. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 15t edition 1983 No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any informational storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.
    [Show full text]
  • Private Vices, Scientific Virtues: Using Economics to Think About Science
    Private Vices, Scientific Virtues: Using Economics to Think about Science THOMAS C. LEONARD Department of Economics Fisher Hall Princeton University Princeton, NJ 08544 United States [email protected] phone: (609) 258-4036 fax: (609) 258-5561 1999 Private Vices, Scientific Virtues: Using Economics to Think about Science Abstract This paper makes a case for using economics to study science and its product, scientific knowledge. Traditional theories of science – due mainly to epistemology – imply that science is successful because scientists are selfless truth seekers, and because they rigidly adhere to a method. Post-modern theories of science – due mainly to sociology and literary theory – argue that science cannot be successful, because scientists are neither disinterested nor selfless, and because methodological rules derive from a faulty epistemology. An economic theory of science argues that, contra the traditional view, successful science doesn’t require the restrictive premises of Traditional theory of science, and that, as a result, contra the Post-modern view, successful science is not ruled out when those premises are. An economic theory of science accommodates both a realistic conception of scientific motivation and procedure, and the possibility of genuine scientific success. In so doing, it offers an intellectual means to address a central question in the theory of science: how do self-interested scientists, who have wordly goals, come to produce the collectively beneficial outcome of reliable scientific knowledge. Keywords Economics of science, philosophy of science, bounded rationality, institutions, scientific knowledge, economic methodology 2 1. Introduction This paper takes up a conundrum that immediately presents itself to the economist considering science.
    [Show full text]
  • Roberto Festa – Curriculum E Pubblicazioni
    ROBERTO FESTA – CURRICULUM E PUBBLICAZIONI CURRICULUM Attività scientifica Nel 1979 mi sono laureato in Filosofia presso l =Università di Bologna, discutendo una tesi su ALa valutazione delle ipotesi scientifiche: dalla teoria della conferma alla teoria delle decisioni cognitive @. Nel 1982 ho conseguito il diploma di perfezionamento in Metodologia della Ricerca Filosofica e Filosofia delle Scienze, presso l =Università di Padova, con una tesi su AL'approssimazione alla verità come obiettivo teorico della scienza @. Grazie a borse di studio del Ministero degli Esteri, ho trascorso un periodo di studio all'Università di Helsinki e due all'Università di Groningen. A Helsinki (a.a. 1981-1982) ho condotto una ricerca sulla verosimilitudine delle teorie scientifiche con la supervisione di Ilkka Niiniluoto; a Groningen (a.a. 1983-84 e 1986-87) mi sono occupato di verosimilitudine e probabilità induttive, in collaborazione con Theo Kuipers. A partire dal 1986 ho lavorato ! con la supervisione di T. Kuipers (Facoltà di Filosofia di Groningen) e W. Molenaar (Dipartimento di Statistica di Groningen) ! a una dissertazione dal titolo AOptimum Inductive Methods @, che ho discusso il 12 novembre 1992, ottenendo così il titolo di Philosophiae Doctor (Ph. D.) in Filosofia della scienza. Il volume Optimum Inductive Methods , uscito nel 1993 per i tipi della Kluwer Academic Publishers, è una versione modificata della dissertazione dottorale. L'argomento principale del volume è il problema della scelta delle probabilità iniziali nelle inferenze bayesiane. Esso include diversi risultati originali, tra i quali una nuova soluzione del problema della scelta del metodo induttivo >ottimale = per le inferenze multinomiali. Tale soluzione viene ottenuta usando strumenti concettuali provenienti da tre diverse aree di indagine: la teoria delle probabilità induttive, la statistica bayesiana, e le ricerche sulla verosimilitudine.
    [Show full text]
  • On the Pessimistic Induction & Two Fallacies
    On The Pessimistic Induction & Two Fallacies Juha Saatsi University of Leeds Abstract. The Pessimistic Induction from falsity of past theories forms a perennial argument against scientific realism. This paper considers and rebuts two recent arguments due to Lewis (2001) and Lange (2002) to the conclusion that the argument from Pessimistic Induction (in its best known form) is actually fallacious. With this I want to re-establish the dignity of the Pessimistic Induction by calling to mind the basic objective of the argument, and hence restore the propriety of the realist program of responding to PMI by undermining one or another of its premises. 1. Introduction Probably the best known and the most central single argument against scientific realism is the argument from Pessimistic Induction (Poincaré 1952; Putnam 1978; Laudan 1981). This argument in some form or another has been part and parcel of the quintessential realism debate for quite some time now; it is therefore very interesting to come across two recent papers which both claim that the argument in its best-known form is actually fallacious (Lange 2002; Lewis 2001). Here I want to re-establish the dignity of the Pessimistic Induction by calling to mind the basic objective of the argument, and hence restore the propriety of the realist program of responding to PMI by undermining one or another of the premises of this otherwise valid argument. I take the Pessimistic (Meta-)Induction (PMI) against scientific realism to be in essence the argument employed by Larry Laudan in his highly influential anti-realist manifesto A confutation of convergent realism (1981).
    [Show full text]
  • Waiting for Hume PETER LIPTON
    03-KAIL-Chap02.qxd 31/12/04 6:32 PM Page 59 Waiting for Hume PETER LIPTON It was David Hume’s great sceptical argument about non-demonstrative reasoning—the problem of induction—that hooked me on philosophy. I am still wriggling, but in the present essay I will not consider how the Humean challenge to justify our inductive practices might be met; rather, I ask why we had to wait until Hume for the challenge to be raised. The question is a natural one to ask, given the intense interest in scepticism before Hume for as far back as we can see in the history of philosophy, and given that Hume’s sceptical argument is so simple and so fundamental. It is not so easy to answer. I am no historian of philosophy, and given the pull that the problem of induction exerts on my own philosophical thinking, I know there is a considerable risk that the historical speculations I consider here will turn out to be worthlessly anachronistic. But I hope not. Hume’s discussion is deeply attractive for a number of reasons. In part it is the scope of Hume’s scepticism. Our reliance on induction is ubiquitous, and Hume’s argument seems to impugn all of it. But this does not explain why Hume impressed me even more than Descartes, who in his First Meditation questions far more. (I was, however, pretty excited by Descartes too.) The contrast is explained in part by the fact that Hume’s argument is in at least two senses more radical than the sceptical arguments that Descartes offers.
    [Show full text]
  • Philosophy in Review/Comptes Rendus Philosophiques • Academic
    Philosophy in Review/Comptes rendus philosophiques Editor I Directeur David J. F. Scott Department of Philosophy University of Victoria P.O. Box 3045 Stn. CSC Victoria, BC Canada VSW 3P4 Tel: 250-721-7512 Fru,c: 250-721-7511 • E-Mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.uvic.ca/philosophy/pir/index.btml PIR publishes both invited reviews and unsolicited reviews of new and significant books in philosophy. We post on our website a list of books for which we seek reviewers, and welcome identification of books deserving review. Normally reviews are 1000 words. CRP diffuse des comptes rendus dument convies, ainsi que d'autres leur etant soumis, a condition que les auteurs traitent de publications nouvelles et marquantes dans le domaine de la philosophie. Le liste des livres suggeres pow· lesquels un compte rendu est requis est affichee sur notre site internet. Bien sur, nous accueillons aussi favorablement toute autre suggestion de titres pour compte rendu. De fa~on generale, ces comptes rendus doivent se restreindre a 1000 mots. Subscription prices for a volume of six issues Institutions Individuals $125 (Canada) $61 (Canada) US$135 (U.S.A.) US$68 (U.S.A.) Cdn$175/US$154/£80/El20 (World) Cdn$90/US$79/£41/E61 (World) Prix de l'abonnement a un volume de six numeros Institutions lndiuidus $125 (Canada) $61 (Canada) US$135 (E-U.) US$68 (E-U.J Cdn$175/US$154/£80/El20 (World) Cdn$90/US$79/£41/E61 (World) Subscriptions should be sent to the publisher: Les abonnements peuvent etre pris chez l'editeur: Academic Printing and Publishing 9 - 3151 Lakeshore Road, Suite 403 Kelowna, BC, Canada VlW 3S9 Tel: 250-764-6427 Fax: 250-764-6428 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.academicprintingandpublishing.com Publications Mail Registration No.
    [Show full text]
  • ARISTOTLE and the CONCEPT of LAW John T. Valauri
    VALAURI_GALLEYS 5/10/2011 10:10:34 AM DIALECTICAL JURISPRUDENCE: ARISTOTLE AND THE CONCEPT OF LAW John T. Valauri* General theories of law struggle to do justice to the multiple dualities of the law.1 INTRODUCTION Western law, culture, and philosophy thought that they were say- ing goodbye to Aristotle as they entered into modernity, only now to find the ancient philosopher standing in wait as they leave mod- ernity and enter into post-modernity. But what use do we have for Aristotle at this time? He can perform a valuable service for us—he offers a therapy for the “bipolar disorder”2 in contemporary juris- prudence and philosophy.3 This disorder is manifested in the wide- spread tendency to approach and analyze philosophical topics as dueling dichotomies, incapable of resolution or reconciliation. It is all too often assumed at the outset that one is faced with a stark ei- ther/or sort of choice between alternatives, so participants in the philosophical debates arising out of this approach typically take one side of the dichotomy and see it as their task to marginalize and di- minish the other side of the dichotomy.4 H.L.A. Hart diagnosed one case of this disorder in his famous depiction of American jurispru- dence as torn between the noble dream that judges can always *- Professor of Law, Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Northern Kentucky University. B.A., 1972; J.D., 1975, Harvard. 1. JOSEPH RAZ, BETWEEN AUTHORITY AND INTERPRETATION 1 (2009). 2. In this Article, I will use the notion of a “bipolar disorder” in philosophy in a broader way to refer to a more general dichotomy problem common today in approaches to philoso- phical topics.
    [Show full text]
  • The Unreasonable Destructiveness of Political Correctness in Philosophy
    philosophies Article The Unreasonable Destructiveness of Political Correctness in Philosophy Manuel Doria Advanced Studies Research Group and Fuzzy Sets Laboratory PIT, Production Engineering Program, COPPE, UFRJ P.O. Box 68507, 21945 972, Rio de Janeiro RJ, Brazil; [email protected] Received: 14 March 2017; Accepted: 26 June 2017; Published: 3 August 2017 Abstract: I submit that epistemic progress in key areas of contemporary academic philosophy has been compromised by politically correct (“PC”) ideology. First, guided by an evolutionary account of ideology, results from social and cognitive psychology and formal philosophical methods, I expose evidence for political bias in contemporary Western academia and sketch a formalization for the contents of beliefs from the PC worldview taken to be of core importance, the theory of social oppression and the thesis of anthropological mental egalitarianism. Then, aided by discussions from contemporary epistemology on epistemic values, I model the problem of epistemic appraisal using the frameworks of multi-objective optimization theory and multi-criteria decision analysis and apply it to politically correct philosophy. I conclude that philosophy guided by politically correct values is bound to produce constructs that are less truth-conducive and that spurious values which are ideologically motivated should be abandoned. Objections to my framework stemming from contextual empiricism, the feminine voice in ethics and political philosophy are considered. I conclude by prescribing the epistemic value of empirical adequacy, the contextual value of political diversity and the moral virtue of moral courage to reverse unwarranted trends in academic philosophy due to PC ideology. Keywords: cognitive biases; multi-criteria decision analysis; epistemic appraisal; epistemic values; ideology; metaphilosophy; multi-objective optimization; political correctness; social constructionism; social oppression 1.
    [Show full text]
  • A Confutation of Convergent Realism (Laudan)
    A Confutation of Convergent Realism Author(s): Larry Laudan Reviewed work(s): Source: Philosophy of Science, Vol. 48, No. 1 (Mar., 1981), pp. 19-49 Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Philosophy of Science Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/187066 . Accessed: 19/11/2011 05:35 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The University of Chicago Press and Philosophy of Science Association are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Philosophy of Science. http://www.jstor.org A CONFUTATION OF CONVERGENT REALISM* LARRY LAUDANt University of Pittsburgh This essay contains a partial exploration of some key concepts associated with the epistemology of realist philosophies of science. It shows that neither ref- erence nor approximate truth will do the explanatory jobs that realists expect of them. Equally, several widely-held realist theses about the nature of inter-the- oretic relations and scientific progress are scrutinized and found wanting. Fi- nally, it is argued that the history of science, far from confirming scientific realism, decisively confutes several extant versions of avowedly 'naturalistic' forms of scientific realism. The positive argument for realism is that it is the only phi- losophy that doesn't make the success of science a miracle.
    [Show full text]
  • Underdetermination and the Claims of Science
    University at Albany, State University of New York Scholars Archive Philosophy Faculty Scholarship Philosophy 3-2003 Underdetermination and the Claims of Science P.D. Magnus University at Albany, State University of New York, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/cas_philosophy_scholar Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Magnus, P.D. (2003) Underdetermination and the Claims of Science. PhD Thesis in Philosophy. University of California, San Diego This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Philosophy at Scholars Archive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Philosophy Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Scholars Archive. For more information, please contact [email protected]. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Underdetermination and the Claims of Science A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy by P.D. Magnus Committee in charge: Professor Paul M. Churchland Professor Donald Rutherford Professor Nancy Cartwright Professor Naomi Oreskes Professor Martin Sereno 2003 I completed my dissertation after digital technology had overtaken word pro- cessing, but before it overtook the submission and archiving of dissertations. I prepared it in LATEX, processed it as a PDF, printed it on cotton paper, and submitted it in duplicate to the Office of Graduate Studies and Research. OGSR sent both copies to the library, and one copy was forwarded to University Mi- crofilms, Inc. UMI photographed the pages so as to make a copy on microfilm, scanned the microfilm, and made the scans available as a PDF. It is a grainy, uneven scan.
    [Show full text]