THE CONTROVERSY OVER RES IN PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE AND THE MYSTERIES OF ONTOLOGICAL NEUTRALITY

Date

2011-01-01

Author

Baç, Mutlu Murat

Metadata

Show full item record

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Item Usage Stats

223
views

0
downloads

Clarification of the terms 'realism' and 'antirealism' has always been a challenging task for philosophers of science, epistemologists, and metaphysicians. The first part of my paper offers a certain classification and critical exposition of realisms in philosophy of science. Next, I take up the issue of finding a middle or natural ground between realism and antirealism. Arthur Fine's Natural Ontological Attitude is generally considered as a highly interesting and promising attempt at combining the strengths of the two sides of the debate in philosophy of science while avoiding their excessive "philosophical" claims. I argue that while reconciliatory approaches are definitely welcome in this matter, Fine's project fails because of its inability to properly handle and carry certain significant and perhaps even indispensable features of realism and antirealism into the new position. Another indication of NOA's failure is Fine's notable misrepresentation of the main theses of the two camps that he strives to bring together. The resultant picture of NOA leaves a great deal to be desired because of Fine's Procrustean treatment and the inadequate ontological account emerging out of it.

Subject Keywords

Antirealism, NOA, Ontology, Realism, Truth, Unobservables

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/53007

Journal

FILOZOFIA

Collections

Department of Philosophy, Article

Suggestions

OpenMETU
Core

The problem of self-knowledge in Kant's critique of pure reason Haşar, Ekim; Çırakman, Elif; Department of Philosophy (2010) The self-knowledge has been a central problem throughout the history of philosophy, but it has remained, as Kant also declares, as the ―most difficult‖ of all tasks of reason. In this study, I scrutinize the grounds of this difficulty and search for the answers to the question ―what can we comprehend about the notion of self from a Kantian standpoint?‖ In this respect, this study is a reading of Kant‘s Critique of Pure Reason with the focus of the problem of self-knowledge. We can see that this concept has ...
How the dialectical relationship between consciousness and life is differentiated in Hegel's and Marx's philosophies Kibar, Sibel; Ergüden, Akın; Department of Philosophy (2005) The purpose of this study is to present the different approaches, which Hegel and Marx have developed regarding the relation between consciousness and life, consistent with their aims. Hegel̕s aim is to combine all the opposed ideas and beliefs proposed throughout the history of philosophy into a unified whole. Hegel̕s dialectics which is immanent to life can also explain the opposition between consciousness and life. Self-consciousness, which appears as subjectivity in Hegel̕s philosophy, at first, treats ...
A new theory of content Aytekin, Tevfik; Sayan, Erdinç; Department of Philosophy (2003) Naturalistic philosophers of meaning try to define the recalcitrant concept of reference in terms respected by the empirical science, such as causality or teleology. In this thesis, after a brief introduction to these trials is given, Fodors theory of content in terms of asymmetric dependence is examined in some depth. I claim that although this theory involves an important insight, it is an unsatisfactory attempt at reduction of the notion of reference. I develop a new theory of content, which does not hav...
The Role of argumentation theory in scientific reasoning and science education Meriç, Gülden Alaz; Zambak, Aziz Fevzi; Department of Philosophy (2019) This thesis analyzes Argumentation Theory within the context of science education. Within this thesis’s purpose, foundations of Argumentation Theory together with the theory’s main elements are also explained. The role of Argumentation Theory is approached in two aspects, namely the philosophical aspect and the educational aspect. In the philosophical aspect, it is questioned whether some reformations in Argumentation Theory is needed for adapting it for science education. In the educational aspect, it is e...
The theory of passions in cartesian philosophy Aksoy, Işıl; Turan, Şeref Halil; Department of Philosophy (2006) The aim of this thesis is to investigate the passions in Cartesian philosophy. It analyses the nature, characteristics and the causes of passions as discussed by Descartes in his correspondence with Princess Elizabeth and his last book The Passions of the Soul (Les passions de l’âme). This thesis purports to explain Descartes’ ethical view by examining the physical mechanism of the passions and their relation to the soul. The reason, will and their essential roles in Cartesian ethics are discussed.

Citation Formats

M. M. Baç, “THE CONTROVERSY OVER RES IN PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE AND THE MYSTERIES OF ONTOLOGICAL NEUTRALITY,” FILOZOFIA, pp. 141–153, 2011, Accessed: 00, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/53007.