Wilhelm, Isaac (2023) Constitution, Evidence, and an Argument for Realism: Responses to Bird's Knowing Science. Asian Journal of Philosophy.

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Abstract

What sorts of aims, or goals, are constitutive of science? How does scientific evidence relate to the knowledge that science produces? And can the No Miracles Argument for scientific realism be defended against concerns about the explanatory capacity of truth? In Knowing Science, Bird engages with questions like these at length. In this paper, I engage with these questions too. I raise some concerns for the view that aiming at knowledge is constitutive of science. I provide three counterexamples to an epistemic principle which Bird uses to argue for the view that evidence is knowledge. And I formulate a version of the No Miracles Argument which avoids any mention of truth whatsoever.

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Item Type:	Published Article or Volume
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Wilhelm, Isaac iwilhelm@nus.edu.sg
Keywords:	philosophy of science, epistemology, Alexander Bird
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism
Depositing User:	Isaac Wilhelm
Date Deposited:	15 Dec 2025 20:24
Last Modified:	15 Dec 2025 20:24
Item ID:	27490
Journal or Publication Title:	Asian Journal of Philosophy
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism
Date:	2023
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/27490

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