Mizrahi, Moti (2011) Why the Ultimate Argument for Scientific Realism Ultimately Fails. [Preprint]

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Abstract

In this paper, I argue that the ultimate argument for Scientific Realism, also known as the No-Miracles Argument (NMA), ultimately fails as an abductive defence of Epistemic Scientific Realism (ESR), where (ESR) is the thesis that successful theories of mature sciences are approximately true. The NMA is supposed to be an Inference to the Best Explanation (IBE) that purports to explain the success of science. However, the explanation offered as the best explanation for success, namely (ESR), fails to yield independently testable predictions that alternative explanations for success do not yield. If this is correct, then there seems to be no good reason to prefer (ESR) over alternative explanations for success.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Mizrahi, Moti motimizra@gmail.com
Keywords:	inference to the best explanation; no-miracles argument; predictive success; scientific realism; ultimate argument for scientific realism
Subjects:	General Issues > Explanation General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism
Depositing User:	Dr. Moti Mizrahi
Date Deposited:	17 Nov 2011 14:30
Last Modified:	17 Nov 2011 14:30
Item ID:	8904
Subjects:	General Issues > Explanation General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism
Date:	4 November 2011
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/8904

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