TY - JOUR
T1 - Induction, Rationality, and the Realism/Anti-realism Debate
T2 - A Reply to Shech
AU - Wray, K. Brad
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Shech (2022) offers a critical assessment of my defense of anti-realism, developed in Resisting Scientific Realism. Induction and inductive inferences play a central role in Shech’s critical analysis of my defense of realism. I argue that Shech’s criticisms that relate to induction and inductive inference are problematic, and do not constitute a threat to my defense of anti-realism. Contrary to what Shech claims, the anti-realist does not need to explain why inductive inferences are successful. That is not part of contemporary realism/anti-realism debate. Further, such a demand fails to recognize that some anti-realists do not put much stock in induction.
AB - Shech (2022) offers a critical assessment of my defense of anti-realism, developed in Resisting Scientific Realism. Induction and inductive inferences play a central role in Shech’s critical analysis of my defense of realism. I argue that Shech’s criticisms that relate to induction and inductive inference are problematic, and do not constitute a threat to my defense of anti-realism. Contrary to what Shech claims, the anti-realist does not need to explain why inductive inferences are successful. That is not part of contemporary realism/anti-realism debate. Further, such a demand fails to recognize that some anti-realists do not put much stock in induction.
KW - anti-realism;
KW - inductive inferences;
KW - scientific rationality;
KW - Darwinian/selectionist explanation;
KW - the success of science
U2 - 10.1080/02698595.2022.2113627
DO - 10.1080/02698595.2022.2113627
M3 - Comment/debate/letter to the editor
SN - 0269-8595
VL - 34
JO - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science
JF - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science
IS - 4
ER -