Volume 9 of Spontaneous Generations: A Journal for the History and
Philosophy of Science has been published. The journal is available via our
website:
http://spontaneousgenerations.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/SpontaneousGenera
tions
Volume 9 of Spontaneous Generations presents an eclectic but surprisingly
harmonious collection of invited and peer-reviewed papers, organized under
the title “The Future of the Scientific Realism Debate: Contemporary Issues
Concerning Scientific Realism”.
Curtis Forbes's editor's introduction starts off the collection by tracing
some of the broader themes that unite the pieces. It is followed by a
dialogue between Bas van Fraassen and Anjan Chakravartty entitled "What is
Scientific Realism?", which sets the tone for the twenty one essays that
follow: all quite stimulating, sometimes perplexed, and often freely
speculative. In order of appearance, there are contributions from Jeff
Foss, Hasok Chang, Theodore Arabatzis, Harry Collins, Arthur Fine, Joseph
Rouse, Alan Musgrave, Howard Sankey, Stathis Psillos, P. Kyle Stanford,
Jamie Shaw, James Ladyman, Robin Hendry, Pete Vickers, Mario Alai, Kerry
McKenzie, K. Brad Wray, Tim Lyons, Paul Teller, Nancy Cartwright, as well
as Cliff Hooker and Giles Hooker.
The journal's usual distinction between full-length articles, focused
discussion pieces, and shorter opinion statements was suspended to give
invited contributors maximal freedom to speak their mind. Some chose to
share a new and carefully articulated, lengthy argument. Others chose to
briefly clarify some previous work of theirs, or offer a preface to
something forthcoming. Still others raise new problems for the would-be
scientific realist, or their opponents, or boldly proffer some new terms
the debate might, will, or should be based on moving forward.
The result is a kind of snapshot that records some ways these specific
philosophers of science are currently thinking about the state, history,
and future of the debate over scientific realism. Much of it is reflective
and opinionated, so the reader deserves some clarification: many of the
ideas found here deserve to be fleshed out more fully elsewhere, and in
most cases the authors have either referenced prior publications where they
have done so, or mentioned their plans to do so soon.
This special issue has given various parties to the scientific realism
debate the opportunity to describe where they presently stand, and where
they think the discussion should be going. The reader, however, will likely
need to consult separate works to fully understand why each author stands
where they do, and wait to see where the debate over scientific realism
goes moving forward. As a whole, therefore, this collection is probably
best treated as a touchstone or launching point for further study and
discussion of many contemporary issues concerning scientific realism.
Enjoy.
Table of Contents
Editor's Introduction / Curtis Forbes
What is Scientific Realism? / Anjan Chakravartty, Bas C. van Fraassen
Feyerabendian Pragmatism / Jeff Foss
Realism for realistic people / Hasok Chang
Engaging philosophically with the history of science: two challenges for
scientific realism / Theodore Arabatzis
Gravitational Waves and Scientific Realism / Harry Collins
Motives for Research / Arthur Fine
Beyond Realism and Antirealism ---At Last? / Joseph Rouse
BEWARE OF Mad DOG Realist / Alan Musgrave
A Dilemma for the Scientific Realist / Howard Sankey
Tolstoy’s argument: realism and the history of science / Stathis Psillos
A Fond Farewell to "Approximate Truth”? / P. Kyle Stanford
Why the Realism Debate Matters for Science Policy: The Case of the Human
Brain Project / Jamie Craig Owen Shaw
Scientific Realism Again / James Ladyman
Scientific Realism and the History of Chemistry / Robin Hendry
Quo Vadis Selective Scientific Realism? / Peter Vickers
How Deployment Realism withstands Doppelt's Criticisms / Mario Alai
Being realistic: the challenge of theory change for a metaphysics of
scientific realism / Kerry McKenzie
The Relevance of Evidence from the History of Science in the Contemporary
Realism/Anti-realism Debate / K. Brad Wray
Four Challenges to Epistemic Scientific Realism—and the Socratic
Alternative / Timothy D Lyons
Referential and Perspectival Realism / Paul Teller
Theoretical practices that work: those that mimic Nature’s own / Nancy
Cartwright
Machine Learning and the Future of Realism / Giles Hooker, Cliff Hooker
Reviews
Rebecca Lemov. Database of Dreams: The Lost Quest to Catalog Humanity /
Jennifer Fraser
Douglas A. Vakoch and Matthew F. Dowd. The Drake Equation: Estimating the
Prevalence of Extraterrestrial Life through the Ages / Andrew Oakes
Melinda Baldwin. Making Nature: The History of a Scientific Journal /
Andrew Oakes
Andre Holenstein, Hubert Steinke, and Martin Stuber, eds. Scholars in
Action: The Practice of Knowledge and the Figure of the Savant in the 18th
Century, Volumes 1 and 2. / Kristen M. Schranz
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