•  154
    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of Fresnel on, assessments of the ether in end-of-century reports around 1900, and the roots of ether theorizing in now superseded metaphysical assumptions.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
  •  118
    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
  •  97
    Diachronic Realism about Successful Theories
    Proceedings of the Xxii World Congress of Philosophy 43 51-66. 2008.
    The success of a scientific theory T is not an all-or-nothing matter; nor is a theory something one can usually accept or reject in toto (i.e. one may take T as being "approximately true", or take as true just certain "parts" of it, without necessarily affirming every posit and claim specific to T as being either completely right or completely wrong). This, however, raises questions about precisely which parts of T deserve to be taken as approximately true. on the basis of its success. A line of…Read more
  •  93
    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
  •  67
    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
  •  66
    Are GRW tails as bad as they say?
    Philosophy of Science 66 (3): 71. 1999.
    GRW models of the physical world are criticized in the literature for involving wave function "tails" that allegedly create fatal interpretive problems and even compromise standard arithmetic. I find such objections both unfair and misguided. But not all is well with the GRW approach. One complaint I articulate in this paper does not have to do with tails as such but with the specific way in which past physical structures linger forever in the total GRW wave function. By pushing the total propos…Read more
  •  60
    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
  •  57
    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
  •  47
    Realism and underdetermination: Some clues from the practices-up
    Proceedings of the Philosophy of Science Association 2001 (3). 2000.
    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
  •  43
    Diachronic Realism about Successful Theories
    Proceedings of the Xxii World Congress of Philosophy 43 51-66. 2008.
    The success of a scientific theory T is not an all-or-nothing matter; nor is a theory something one can usually accept or reject in toto (i.e. one may take T as being "approximately true", or take as true just certain "parts" of it, without necessarily affirming every posit and claim specific to T as being either completely right or completely wrong). This, however, raises questions about precisely which parts of T deserve to be taken as approximately true. on the basis of its success. A line of…Read more
  •  41
    Science, objectivity and moral values
    Science & Education 1 (1): 49-70. 1992.
  •  32
    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
  •  31
    On the Growing Complementarity of Science and Technology
    Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology 4 (2): 86-92. 1998.
  •  28
    Understanding quantum physics
    Science & Education 12 (5): 503-511. 2003.
  •  28
    Mario Bunge’s Scientific Realism
    Science & Education 21 (10): 1419-1435. 2012.
  •  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
  •  26
    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
  •  24
    Mario Bunge’s Scientific Approach to Realism
    In Mario Augusto Bunge, Michael R. Matthews, Guillermo M. Denegri, Eduardo L. Ortiz, Heinz W. Droste, Alberto Cordero, Pierre Deleporte, María Manzano, Manuel Crescencio Moreno, Dominique Raynaud, Íñigo Ongay de Felipe, Nicholas Rescher, Richard T. W. Arthur, Rögnvaldur D. Ingthorsson, Evandro Agazzi, Ingvar Johansson, Joseph Agassi, Nimrod Bar-Am, Alberto Cupani, Gustavo E. Romero, Andrés Rivadulla, Art Hobson, Olival Freire Junior, Peter Slezak, Ignacio Morgado-Bernal, Marta Crivos, Leonardo Ivarola, Andreas Pickel, Russell Blackford, Michael Kary, A. Z. Obiedat, Carolina I. García Curilaf, Rafael González del Solar, Luis Marone, Javier Lopez de Casenave, Francisco Yannarella, Mauro A. E. Chaparro, José Geiser Villavicencio- Pulido, Martín Orensanz, Jean-Pierre Marquis, Reinhard Kahle, Ibrahim A. Halloun, José María Gil, Omar Ahmad, Byron Kaldis, Marc Silberstein, Carolina I. García Curilaf, Rafael González del Solar, Javier Lopez de Casenave, Íñigo Ongay de Felipe & Villavicencio-Pulid (eds.), Mario Bunge: A Centenary Festschrift, Springer Verlag. 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
  •  20
    Holly Ramona: La ciencia y el ideal contemporáneo de excelencia
    Areté. Revista de Filosofía 11 (1). 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
  •  20
    Cheers for Ontic Physics: Tim Maudlin on Quantum Theory
    Philosophia 48 (3): 1263-1271. 2020.
  •  16
    Diachronic Realism about Successful Theories
    Proceedings of the Xxii World Congress of Philosophy 43 51-66. 2008.
    The success of a scientific theory T is not an all-or-nothing matter; nor is a theory something one can usually accept or reject in toto (i.e. one may take T as being "approximately true", or take as true just certain "parts" of it, without necessarily affirming every posit and claim specific to T as being either completely right or completely wrong). This, however, raises questions about precisely which parts of T deserve to be taken as approximately true. on the basis of its success. A line of…Read more
  •  16
    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.
  •  15
    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.
  •  15
    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
  •  14
    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
  •  13
    Conversations Across Meaning Variance
    Science & Education 22 (6): 1305-1313. 2013.
  •  12
    Practical Reasoning in the Foundations of Quantum Theory
    In Dag Prawitz & Dag Westerståhl (eds.), Logic and Philosophy of Science in Uppsala, Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 439--452. 1994.