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5This collection of 17 articles offers an overview of the philosophical activities of a group of philosophers (who have been) working at the Groningen University. The meta-methodological assumption which unifies the research of this group, holds that there is a way to do philosophy which is a middle course between abstract normative philosophy of science and descriptive social studies of science. On the one hand it is argued with social studies of science that philosophy should take notice of wha…Read more
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12Truthlikeness and the Number of PlanetsJournal of Philosophical Logic 1-28. forthcoming.Examples of hypotheses about the number of planets are frequently used to introduce the topic of (actual) truthlikeness but never analyzed in detail. In this paper we first deal with the truthlikeness of singular quantity hypotheses, with reference to several ‘the number of planets’ examples, such as ‘The number of planets is 10 _versus_ 10 billion (instead of 8).’ For the relevant ratio scale of quantities we will propose two, strongly related, normalized metrics, the proportional metric and th…Read more
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34The Courage of Doing Philosophy: Essays Dedicated to Leszek Nowak (edited book)Rodopi. 2007.Table of ContentsAndrzej KLAWITER, Krzystof #ASTOWSKI: Introduction: Originality, Courage and Responsibility List of Books by Leszek NowakSelected Bibliography of Leszek Nowak's WritingsScience and Idealization Theo A.F. KUIPERS: On Two ...
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4Conceptual ConcretizationOrganon F: Medzinárodný Časopis Pre Analytickú Filozofiu 30 (2): 153-159. 2023.
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42The periodic table - its formalization, status, and relation to atomic theoryErkenntnis 28 (3): 387-408. 1988.
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83The periodic table — its formalization, status, and relation to atomic theoryErkenntnis 28 (3): 387-408. 1988.
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143Verisimilitude and belief change for nomic conjunctive theoriesSynthese 190 (16): 3307-3324. 2013.In this paper, we address the problem of truth approximation through theory change, asking whether revising our theories by newly acquired data leads us closer to the truth about a given domain. More particularly, we focus on “nomic conjunctive theories”, i.e., theories expressed as conjunctions of logically independent statements concerning the physical or, more generally, nomic possibilities and impossibilities of the domain under inquiry. We define both a comparative and a quantitative notion…Read more
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90How to Confirm the Conjunction of Disconfirmed HypothesesPhilosophy of Science 76 (1): 1-21. 2009.Can some evidence confirm a conjunction of two hypotheses more than it confirms either of the hypotheses separately? We show that it can, moreover under conditions that are the same for ten different measures of confirmation. Further we demonstrate that it is even possible for the conjunction of two disconfirmed hypotheses to be confirmed by the same evidence
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11A coherent trio of, distance and size based, measures for nomic and actual truthlikenessSynthese 201 (2): 1-31. 2023.So far, the most prominent measure for actual truthlikeness, i.e. the likeness of a theory to the actual truth, is Ilkka Niiniluoto’s minsum definition, which is purely based on distances. A competing definition is the average distance measure proposed by Pavel Tichy and Graham Oddie. We will define three related, distance and size based, measures for actual truthlikeness and compare them with the two well-known options. However, we will start, Sect. 2, from a trio of such measures for nomic tru…Read more
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19Approaching probabilistic truths: introduction to the Topical CollectionSynthese 200 (2): 1-8. 2022.After Karl Popper’s original work, several approaches were developed to provide a sound explication of the notion of verisimilitude. With few exceptions, these contributions have assumed that the truth to be approximated is deterministic. This collection of ten papers addresses the more general problem of approaching probabilistic truths. They include attempts to find appropriate measures for the closeness to probabilistic truth and to evaluate claims about such distances on the basis of empiric…Read more
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33 in philosophy, and therefore in metaphilosophy, cannot be based on rules that avoid spending time on pseudo-problems. Of course, this implies that, if one succeeds in demonstrating convincingly the pseudo-character of a problem by giving its 'solution', the time spent on it need not be seen as wasted. We conclude this section with a brief statement of the criteria for concept explication as they have been formulated in several places by Carnap, Hempel and Stegmiiller. Hempel's account is still…Read more
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5Approaching probabilistic and deterministic nomic truths in an inductive probabilistic waySynthese 199 (3-4): 8001-8028. 2021.Theories of truth approximation in terms of truthlikeness almost always deal with approaching deterministic truths, either actual or nomic. This paper deals first with approaching a probabilistic nomic truth, viz. a true probability distribution. It assumes a multinomial probabilistic context, hence with a lawlike true, but usually unknown, probability distribution. We will first show that this true multinomial distribution can be approached by Carnapian inductive probabilities. Next we will dea…Read more
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76How to confirm the disconfirmed. On conjunction fallacies and robust confirmationPhilosophy of Science 76 (1): 1-21. 2009.Can some evidence confirm a conjunction of two hypotheses more than it confirms either of the hypotheses separately? We show that it can, moreover under conditions that are the same for nine different measures of confirmation. Further we demonstrate that it is even possible for the conjunction of two disconfirmed hypotheses to be confirmed by the same evidence.
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127An erotetic approach to explanation by specificationErkenntnis 40 (3). 1994.In earlier publications of the first author it was shown that intentional explanation of actions, functional explanation of biological traits and causal explanation of abnormal events share a common structure. They are called explanation by specification (of a goal, a biological function, an abnormal causal factor, respectively) as opposed to explanation by subsumption under a law. Explanation by specification is guided by a schematic train of thought, of which the argumentative steps not concer…Read more
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6A Generalization of Carnap's Inductive LogicIn Jaakko Hintikka (ed.), Rudolf Carnap, Logical Empiricist: Materials and Perspectives, D. Reidel Pub. Co.. pp. 361. 1975.
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4Stratified Nomic RealismIn Wenceslao J. Gonzalez (ed.), New Approaches to Scientific Realism, De Gruyter. pp. 145-166. 2020.
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1Epistemological Positions in the Light of Truth ApproximationThe Paideia Archive: Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy 37 131-138. 1998.I discuss in a systematic order the most important epistemological positions in the instrumentalism-realism debate, viz., instrumentalism, constructive empiricism, referential realism, and theory realism. My conclusions are as follows. There are good reasons for the instrumentalist to become a constructive empiricist. In turn, the constructive empiricist is forced to become a referential realist in order to give deeper explanations of success differences. Consequently, there are further good rea…Read more
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11Nomic Truth Approximation RevisitedSpringer Verlag. 2019.This monograph presents new ideas in nomic truth approximation. It features original and revised papers from a philosopher of science who has studied the concept for more than 35 years. Over the course of time, the author's initial ideas evolved. He discovered a way to generalize his first theory of nomic truth approximation, viz. by dropping an unnecessarily strong assumption. In particular, he first believed to have to assume that theories were maximally specific in the sense that they did not…Read more
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1A structuralist approach to truthlikenessIn What is Closer-to-the-truth?: A Parade of Approaches to Truthlikeness, Rodopi. pp. 79--99. 1987.
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1Comparative Realism as the Best Response to AntirealismIn C. Glymour, W. Wei & D. Westerstahl (eds.), Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science. Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Congress, King’s College Publications. pp. 221--250. 2009.
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10Structures in Science: Heuristic Patterns Based on Cognitive Structures An Advanced Textbook in Neo-Classical Philosophy of ScienceKluwer Academic Publishers. 2001.The philosophy of science has lost its self-confidence, witness the lack of advanced textbooks in contrast to the abundance of elementary textbooks. Structures in Science is an advanced textbook that explicates, updates, accommodates, and integrates the best insights of logical-empiricism and its main critics. This `neo-classical approach' aims at providing heuristic patterns for research. The book introduces four ideal types of research programs and reanimates the distinction between observatio…Read more
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Dovetailing Belief Base Revision with (Basic) Truth ApproximationIn E. Weber, D. Wouters & J. Meheus (eds.), Logic, Reasoning, and Rationality. Logic, Argumentation & Reasoning (Interdisciplinary Perspectives from the Humanities and Social Sciences), vol 5, Springer. pp. 77-93. 2014.
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52What is Closer-to-the-truth?: A Parade of Approaches to Truthlikeness (edited book)Rodopi. 1987.INTRODUCTION When Karl Popper published in' his definition of closer-to-the- truth this was an important intellectual event, but not a shocking one. ...
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11. How to Confirm the Conjunction of Disconfirmed HypothesesPhilosophy of Science 76 (1): 1-21. 2009.Could some evidence confirm a conjunction of two hypotheses more than it confirms either of the hypotheses separately? We show that it might, moreover under conditions that are the same for ten different measures of confirmation. Further, we demonstrate that it is even possible for the conjunction of two disconfirmed hypotheses to be confirmed by the same evidence.
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10Refined nomic truth approximation by revising models and postulatesSynthese 197 (4): 1601-1625. 2020.Assuming that the target of theory oriented empirical science in general and of nomic truth approximation in particular is to characterize the boundary or demarcation between nomic possibilities and nomic impossibilities, I have presented, in my article entitled “Models, postulates, and generalized nomic truth approximation” :3057–3077, 2016. 10.1007/s11229-015-0916-9), the ‘basic’ version of generalized nomic truth approximation, starting from ‘two-sided’ theories. Its main claim is that nomic …Read more
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What is Closer-to-the Truth? A Parade of Approaches to TruthlikenessTijdschrift Voor Filosofie 50 (3): 575-576. 1988.
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14Idealization I: general problems (edited book)Rodopi. 1990.o;,nai\ Studies in the Philosophy of the Scienees and the Humanities 1999, Vol. I6,-57 Ilkka Niiniluoto THEORIES, APPROXIMATIONS, AND IDEALIZATIONS" L...
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28Beauty, A Road To The TruthSynthese 131 (3): 291-328. 2002.In this article I give a naturalistic-cum-formal analysis of therelation between beauty, empirical success, and truth. The analysis is based on the onehand on a hypothetical variant of the so-called `mere-exposure effect' which has been more orless established in experimental psychology regarding exposure-affect relationshipsin general and aesthetic appreciation in particular (Zajonc 1968; Temme 1983; Bornstein 1989;Ye 2000). On the other hand it is based on the formal theory of truthlikeness an…Read more