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Realism and Explanatory Priority

  • Book
  • © 1997

Overview

Authors:
  1. John Wright

    1. Department of Philosophy, The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia

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Part of the book series: Philosophical Studies Series (PSSP, volume 71)

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Table of contents (11 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
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  2. Introductory Remarks

    • John Wright
    Pages 1-10

  3. What is the Realism/Anti-Realism Issue?

    • John Wright
    Pages 11-53

  4. A Theory of Dependence

    • John Wright
    Pages 54-97

  5. The Explanatory Priority View of the Realism/Anti-Realism Issue

    • John Wright
    Pages 98-124

  6. Arguments for a Weak form of Realism

    • John Wright
    Pages 125-140

  7. A Strategy for Determining the Scope of Realism

    • John Wright
    Pages 141-151

  8. Does Novel Success Need to be Explained by Truth?

    • John Wright
    Pages 152-187

  9. Epistemic Truth and the Explanation of Novel Confirmation

    • John Wright
    Pages 188-232

  10. The Arguments Against Realism

    • John Wright
    Pages 233-270

  11. The Evidence for Realism — I Evidence for Truth That is Independent of the Epistemic

    • John Wright
    Pages 271-299

  12. The Evidence for Realism — II: The Evidence for Independence from Discourse

    • John Wright
    Pages 300-322

  13. Back Matter

    Pages 323-334
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Keywords

About this book

One of the central areas of concern in late twentieth-century philosophy is the debate between Realism and anti-Realism. But the precise nature of the issues that form the focus of the debate remains controversial. In Realism and Explanatory Priority a new way of viewing the debate is developed. The primary focus is not on the notions of existence, truth or reference, but rather on independence. A notion of independence is developed using concepts derived from the theory of explanation. It is argued that this approach enables us to clarify the exact nature of the empirical evidence that would be required to establish Realism in any area. The author defends a restricted form of Realism, which he calls Nomic Structuralism.
The book will be suitable for professional philosophers of language, science and metaphysics, and their graduate students.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Philosophy, The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia

    John Wright

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Realism and Explanatory Priority

  • Authors: John Wright

  • Series Title: Philosophical Studies Series

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2844-7

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 1997

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-7923-4484-1Published: 30 April 1997

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-90-481-4823-3Published: 28 October 2010

  • eBook ISBN: 978-94-017-2844-7Published: 29 June 2013

  • Series ISSN: 0921-8599

  • Series E-ISSN: 2542-8349

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: X, 334

  • Topics: Epistemology, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Science

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