| Title: |
Can Meaningless Statements Be Approximately True? On Relaxing the Semantic Component of Scientific Realism |
| Authors: |
Rowbottom, Darrell P. |
| Source: |
Philosophy of Science ; volume 89, issue 5, page 879-888 ; ISSN 0031-8248 1539-767X |
| Publisher Information: |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
| Publication Year: |
2022 |
| Description: |
First, I show that the semantic thesis of scientific realism may be relaxed significantly—to allow that some scientific discourse is not truth-valued—without making any concessions concerning the epistemic or methodological theses that lie at realism’s core. Second, I illustrate how relaxing the semantic thesis allows realists to avoid positing abstract entities and to fend off objections to the “no miracles” argument from positions such as cognitive instrumentalism. Third, I argue that the semantic thesis of scientific realism should be relaxed because it is possible for scientific statements to be partially true, and hence approximately true, without being false. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| Language: |
English |
| DOI: |
10.1017/psa.2022.74 |
| Availability: |
https://doi.org/10.1017/psa.2022.74; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0031824822000745 |
| Rights: |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.52740FCB |
| Database: |
BASE |