scientific realism

(PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE) the assumption (Bhaskar, 1975, 1979), that a ‘real world’ exists independently of our senses, and that the objects of scientific thought are ‘real structures, irreducible to the events they generate’ (see also EXPLANATORY MECHANISM; compare REALISM). In presenting this as a new TRANSCENDENTAL ARGUMENT, Bhaskar has had considerable influence on methodological thinking in modern sociology, especially in providing support for 'structural explanations’ and in combatting EMPIRICISM. What is not clear, however, is whether scientific realism carries quite the specific implications suggested by Bhaskar (e.g. support for MARX against WEBER or DURKHEIM).

Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000

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References in periodicals archive

His topics include between innocence and commitment: speculation and experience, commitment to reason and to scientific realism, humanism and the cosmic agent, and commitment to God.

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Yet, in addition, many philosophers have also held that underdetermination poses a specific problem for scientific realism. (40)

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Pessimists constructed the old pessimistic induction (Laudan, 1977; Putnam, 1978) and the new pessimistic induction (Stanford, 2006) to rebut scientific realism, the view that successful scientific theories are (approximately) true.

THE GRAND PESSIMISTIC INDUCTION

Can we accept scientific realism while rejecting mathematical realism?

REJECTING MATHEMATICAL REALISM WHILE ACCEPTING INTERACTIVE REALISM

The Role of Existential Quantification in Scientific Realism, SUKI FINN

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M., 1978, Universals and Scientific Realism, 2 Vols.

DE QUE TRATA LA ONTOLOGIA? UN EXAMEN DE REINHARDT GROSSMANN

Keywords: Scientific Realism, Health Policy, Politics Epistemology, Causality, Social Mechanisms

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The philosophy of computational social science described above is a form of scientific realism: it takes the discoveries made by scientific consensus to be real, or more real than the contents of the perspectives of those who are not participating in the scientific social process.

Philosophy of computational social science

Armstrong, David Malet, Universais and Scientific Realism (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1978)

Habermas on justice