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Extragalactic Reality Revisited: Astrophysics and Entity Realism

Allzén, Simon (2023) Extragalactic Reality Revisited: Astrophysics and Entity Realism. Philosophy of Astrophysics Stars, Simulations, and the Struggle to Determine What is Out There, 472. pp. 277-293.

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Abstract

Astrophysics is a scientific field with a rich ontology of individual processes and general phenomena that occur in our universe. Despite its central role in our understanding of the physics of the universe, astrophysics has largely been ignored in the debate on scientific realism. As a notable exception, Hacking (Philos Sci 56(4):555–581, 1989) argues that the lack of experiments in astrophysics forces us to be anti-realist with respect to the entities which astrophysics claim inhabit the universe. In this paper, I investigate the viability of astrophysical realism about black holes, given other formulations of entity realism, specifically Cartwright’s (How the Laws of Physics Lie. Oxford University Press, 1983), and Chakravartty’s (A Metaphysics for Scientific Realism: Knowing the Unobervable. Cambridge University Press, 2007) versions of entity realism. I argue that on these accounts of entity realism, you cannot be a realist with respect to black holes, and likewise, if you want to be a realist about black holes, you cannot be an entity realist of these particular strands.


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Item Type: Published Article or Volume
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Allzén, Simonsimon.allzen@philosophy.su.se0000-0002-6124-8152
Keywords: Entity realism, Black holes, Astrophysics
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Astrophysics
General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism
General Issues > Theory/Observation
Depositing User: Dr Simon Allzén
Date Deposited: 30 Jun 2023 12:50
Last Modified: 30 Jun 2023 12:50
Item ID: 22266
Journal or Publication Title: Philosophy of Astrophysics Stars, Simulations, and the Struggle to Determine What is Out There
Publisher: Springer Cham
DOI or Unique Handle: https://doi-org.ezp.sub.su.se/10.1007/978-3-031-26618-8_15
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Astrophysics
General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism
General Issues > Theory/Observation
Date: 30 July 2023
Page Range: pp. 277-293
Volume: 472
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/22266

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