Science, Common Sense and Reality

Howard Sankey
2010 Social Science Research Network  
Scientific realism and the return of metaphysics An interest in metaphysics is now fashionable in a way not seen since before the rise of logical positivism. Diverse factors have contributed to this trend. But in the philosophy of science a significant role has been played by the emergence of scientific realism as the new orthodoxy following the demise of positivism. The positivists initially dismissed the topic of realism as vacuous. But by the late 1950s, the holistic implications of the
more » ... al interpretation account of meaning united with rejection of a sharp divide between observation and theory to foster a budding realist movement in the philosophy of science. A decade later, development of the causal theory of reference provided the basis for a realist semantics of science, which prompted reflection on metaphysical issues such as necessity, essential properties and laws of nature. Work in this currently active area is conducted in a philosophical climate that came into being as the result of the emergence of scientific realism as the dominant position in the philosophy of science. While scientific realism has played a major role in the return of metaphysics, in this paper I focus on a more basic position. Scientific realists often appeal to common
doi:10.2139/ssrn.1683918 fatcat:fhgchevwnbgibi6ofnstr34kcu