•  71
    Great scholars in philosophy possess a keen analytical mind, excel in logical reasoning, and exhibit meticulous attention to detail. They rigorously define terms, avoiding ambiguities and errors. Originality and the willingness to challenge conventions are their hallmarks. They make significant contributions across various philosophical fields. They transparently address the exact aim of their research, and what it is not. Finally, they anticipate the impact of their theories on the current lite…Read more
  •  68
    Cheers for Ontic Physics: Tim Maudlin on Quantum Theory
    Philosophia 48 (3): 1263-1271. 2020.
  •  66
    Mario Bunge’s Scientific Approach to Realism
    In Michael Robert Matthews (ed.), Mario Bunge: A Centenary Festschrift, Springer. pp. 83-100. 2019.
    The first half of this article follows Mario Bunge’s early realist moves, his efforts to articulate the achievements of theoretical physics as gains in the quest for objective truth and understanding, particularly in the context of the fights against the idealist and subjectivist interpretations of quantum mechanics that, at least until the mid-1970s, prevailed in physics. Bunge’s answers to the problems of quantum mechanics provide a good angle for understanding how his realist positions grew o…Read more
  •  56
    Selecting the Next Generation
    Axiomathes 30 (6): 667-683. 2020.
    This paper discusses one area of the interface between science and ethics: the genetic manipulation and design of human beings. Genetic interventions are an increasingly powerful eugenic resource, but they raise ethical suspicions. Critics condemn them, alleging severe negative consequences for society and the manipulated individuals involved. I analyze some influential general arguments proposed against artificially selecting the next generation and conclude that the arguments are insufficient …Read more
  •  37
    The Puzzles of Time, Then and Now
    Science & Education 25 (1): 199-201. 2016.
  •  76
    Mario Bunge’s Scientific Realism
    Science & Education 21 (10): 1419-1435. 2012.
  •  66
    Selective realist projects have made significant improvements over the last two decades. Judging by the literature, however, antirealist quarters seem little impressed with the results. Section I considers the selectivist case and its perceived shortcomings. One shortcoming is that selectivist offerings are nuanced in ways that deprive them of features that—according to many—cannot be absent from any realism “worth having”. Section II considers eight features widely required of realist positions…Read more
  •  59
    Conversations Across Meaning Variance
    Science & Education 22 (6): 1305-1313. 2013.
  •  52
    Contemporary Science and Worldview-Making
    Science & Education 18 (6-7): 747-764. 2009.
  •  27
    Epistemology and "the social" in contemporary natural science
    Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities 96 (1): 129-142. 2008.
    Philosophers of science disagree on the extent to which epistemology transcends the social sphere in mature branches of science. In this paper I suggest a way of vindicating a key aspect of the transcendence thesis without questioning the social nature of science. Such vindication requires epistemological autonomy to prevail along channels having to do with (1) selection of research goals, (2) use of human subjects and public resources in research, (3) social interventions aimed at helping scien…Read more
  •  28
    Understanding quantum physics
    Science & Education 12 (5): 503-511. 2003.
  •  115
    Recent attempts to turn Standard Quantum Theory into a coherent representational system have improved markedly over previous offerings. Important questions about the nature of material systems remain open, however, as current theorizing effectively resolves into a multiplicity of incompatible statements about the nature of physical systems. Specifically, the most cogent proposals to date land in effective empirical equivalence, reviving old anti-realist fears about quantum physics. In this paper…Read more
  • Las interpretaciónes de la física cuántica de Everett-DeWitt hablan de una multiplicidad de mundos físicamente coexistenrtes. Éstas imaginativas reacciones a los problemas conceptuales de la mecánica cuántica estándar forman una família de propuestas de “universos múltiples” que, sin pleno éxito, han sido tachadas de incoherentes.Everett-DeWitt interpretations of quantum physics speak of a multiplicity of physically coexisting worlds. These imaginative reactions to the conceptual problems of sta…Read more
  •  110
    Holly Ramona: La ciencia y el ideal contemporáneo de excelencia
    Areté. Revista de Filosofía 11 (1): 773-794. 1999.
    According to an old way of thinking, any leve! of problematicity with respect to truth or theory dependence suffices to spoil the objectivity of a proposal. No credible discourse complies with such restrictions. Far from compromising the existence of knowledge, correct and incorrect, rational and nonrational ideas, however. the said old way of thinking is simply incapable of representing the cognitive achievements that we actually have. This paper discusses a contemporary way of approaching the …Read more
  •  217
    Some thinkers distrust Darwinist explorations of complex human behaviors, particularly investigations into possible differences in valued skills between genders, races or classes. Such projects, it is claimed, tend to have adverse effects on people who are already disadvantaged. A recent argument by Philip Kitcher both clarifies and generalizes this charge to cover a whole genre of scientific projects. In this paper I try to spell out and analyze Kitcher's argument. The argument fails, I suggest…Read more
  •  86
    Science, objectivity and moral values
    Science & Education 1 (1): 49-70. 1992.
  •  51
    Pluralism, Scientific Values, and the Value of Science
    In Evandro Agazzi & Fabio Minazzi (eds.), Science and ethics: the axiological contexts of science, P.i.e. Peter Lang. pp. 101--114. 2008.
  •  162
    Explanatory Elucidation and Scientific Realism
    Epistemologia 1 59-70. 2012.
    Explanatory elucidation occurs when a theory has one or more of its assumptions explained by another independently successful theory. Because explanatory elucidation springs from independently supported theories, it improves the credibility of the assumptions it casts light on, hence its relevance for realists. But cases can be pointed to where explanatory elucidation has badly failed to identify truthful components. One way to address this challenge is by trying to find additional epistemic sup…Read more
  •  38
    Philosophy and the Origin and Evolution of the Universe (edited book)
    with Evandro Agazzi
    Kluwer Academic Publishers. 1991.
    Modern cosmology, though a confluence of relativity theory and elementary particle physics, and with the help of very sophisticated mathematical models, tries to encompass the Universe as a whole, and to propose theories regarding its origin and evolution. But this cannot work without the evolution of several philosophical issues, concerning the epistemological status of this enterprise, its implicit or explicit extra-scientific presuppositions, as well as the real sense and interpretation of th…Read more
  •  32
    What Conditions is Physics Expected to Fulfil in Order to Provide Bases for Weltanschauungen?
    Philosophie Et Culture: Actes du XVIIe Congrès Mondial de Philosophie 5 204-208. 1988.
  •  208
    Summary: Responding to Laudan’s skeptical reading of history an influential group of realists claim that the seriously wrong claims past successful theories licensed were not really implicated in the predictions that once singled them out as successful. For example, in the case of Fresnel’s theory of light, it is said that although he appealed to the ether he didn’t actually need to in order to derive his famous experimental predictions—in them, we are assured, the ether concept was “idle,” “ine…Read more
  •  103
    Physics and the Underdetermination Thesis
    The Proceedings of the Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy 10 97-113. 2001.
    Although exceptionally successful in the laboratory, the standard version of quantum theory is marred as a realist-objectivist proposition because of its internal conceptual difficulties and its tension with important parts of physics—most conspicuously, relativity theory. So, to meet these challenges, in recent years at least three distinct major objectivist programs have been advanced to further quantum theory into a proper general account of material systems. Unfortunately, the resulting prop…Read more
  •  43
    Interpreting State Reduction from the Practices-Up
    PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1990 263-275. 1990.
    This paper examines some physical sources of the concept of objective state reduction in quantum mechanics. Using case studies from nuclear physics and quantum chemistry, the question of whether one can induce a collapse theory from the practices of scientists working on specific problems is considered. A specific proposal is explored, with emphasis on such features as coherence, testability, unifying power and fertility. It is shown that, contrary to recent suggestions by David Albert, collapse…Read more
  •  256
    Scientific Realism and the Divide et Impera Strategy: The Ether Saga Revisited
    Philosophy of Science 78 (5): 1120-1130. 2011.
    Using the optical ether as a case study, this article advances four lines of consideration to show why synchronic versions of the divide et impera strategy of scientific realism are unlikely to work. The considerations draw from the nineteenth-century theories of light, the rise of surprising implication as an epistemic value from the time of Fresnel on, assessments of the ether in end-of-century reports around 1900, and the roots of ether theorizing in now superseded metaphysical assumptions. T…Read more
  • Realism and the Infinitely Faceted World: Intimations from the 1950s
    Ontology Studies: Cuadernos de Ontología 7-19. 2010.
    Breaking away from logical-empiricism, in the early 1950s Stephen Toulmin presented empirical theories as maps, thereby opening a fertile line of reflection about background interests and their impact on abstraction in scientific theorizing. A few years later, pointing to the “qualitative infinity of nature,” David Bohm denounced what he regarded as counterproductive constraints on the scientific imagination. In realist circles, these two strands of suggestions would be variously supplemented ov…Read more
  •  125
    On Scientific Realism and Naturalism
    Journal of Philosophical Research 40 (Supplement): 31-43. 2015.
    This paper looks at the current realism/antirealism debate in philosophy of science as a dispute between two objectivist interpretations of modern empirical success: Scientific realism and scientific antirealism. The paper traces the debate to a split in responses to the historicist relativism that gained force in the 1960s; it concentrates on the discussions that led to selectivism, a promising realist strategy that focuses on theory-parts rather than whole theories. The paper examines the meri…Read more
  •  39
    Evolutionary Ideas and Contemporary Naturalism
    In Evandro Agazzi & Alberto Cordero (eds.), Philosophy and the Origin and Evolution of the Universe, Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 399--439. 1991.