Realism and direct reference
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69967/07194773.v1i1.61Keywords:
Scientific realism, direct reference, descriptionism, antirrealism, theories of reference, causal descriptionismAbstract
Pese a que la controversia entre realistas y antirrealistas científicos atañe principalmente a la cuestión de la existencia de las entidades inobservables postuladas por nuestras mejores teorías científicas, algunos de los argumentos más relevantes a favor de una y otra posición trascienden el plano metafísico: importantes batallas pretenden decidir la controversia en el plano epistemológico, semántico e incluso pragmático. Particularmente en la arena semántica se juega la cuestión de la continuidad/discontinuidad referencial de los términos que denotan inobservables a través del cambio teórico. En el presente trabajo pretendo, en primer lugar, mostrar que tanto las teorías de la referencia directa (o teorías causales de la referencia), como las teorías descripcionistas resultan inconvenientes a la posición realista. En segundo término, intentaré explorar la viabilidad de la formulación de una teoría mixta adecuada a las intuiciones realistas a través de la exposición crítica de la posición que S. Psillos (1999) denomina descriptivismo causal, procurando asimismo consignar las dificultades más relevantes que el desarrollo de una teoría de esa índole debería enfrentar.
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References
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van Fraassen, B.C. The Scientific Image, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1980.
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