Scientific realism
Chapter 1 - Worldview
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Welcome to the Scientific realism page
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Constructivism benefits greatly from scientific realism.
Scientific realism is the belief in the unobservable entities posited by our most successful scientific theories. The most powerful argument in favour of scientific realism is 'the no miracles argument': the success of science would be miraculous if scientific theories were not at least approximately accurate descriptions of the world.
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Core ideas
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Arguments in favour of scientific realism
Scientific theories can provide true or approximately true descriptions of the world, including unobservable entitiesː
- The ability of theories to make accurate predictions about observable phenomena
- The practical applications and technological advancements derived from scientific knowledge
- The refinement of theories over time leads to greater precision and explanatory power
- The ability of newer theories to explain the successes of older theories while also addressing their limitations
- The consistency of findings across different scientific disciplines
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Science is a process
Scientific theories seem to have an expiry date
Larry Laudan (1981) gave a very influential argument with the following structure:
- There have been many empirically successful theories in the history of science which have subsequently been rejected and whose theoretical terms do not refer according to our best current theories
- Our best current theories are no different in kind from those discarded theories and so we have no reason to think they will not ultimately be replaced as well
There are numerous examples of continuity in the structure of successive scientific theories.
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Scientific theories describe relations that ensure continuity
Poincaré ('La Science et l’Hypothése - 1902) argued that what survives in theory-change are relations among physical magnitudes, expressed by mathematical equations within theories. These equations express relations, and if the equations remain true it is because these relations preserve their reality. They teach us, before and after, that there is such and such a relation between some thing and some other thing. the things themselves are not what it [science] can reach, as the naive dogmatists think, but only the relations between things. Apart from these relations there is no knowable reality.
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Critisism supports coherance
Criticism of science addresses problems within science in order to improve science as a whole and its role in society. Criticisms come from philosophy, from social movements or from within science itself. The emerging field of metascience seeks to increase the quality of and efficiency of scientific research by improving the scientific process.
| Barry O'Reilly - Linkedin - 2025 |
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| How do you manage to make your complex subject so precise? How do you come up with such powerful ideas? It’s because of the thousands of iterations and taking on board criticism that the ideas have become strong enough, and I managed to fix a major flaw: the density of my ideas and the academic tone makes them very vulnerable to poor presentation, so those bugs needed to be worked out and external criticism was necessary and helpful. We must criticize our own thinking, and we must see it as a collective endeavor that has the ultimate goal of producing better methods and ideas. This means that we have to be prepared to criticize ideas regularly and openly. Once we do that, we need to be on the lookout for rhetoric and dogma. |
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Deep dive
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Arguments against scientific realism
The arguments run parallel to those regarding constructivismː
- Empirical evidence alone may not be sufficient to determine which theory is true
- The existence of diverse, contradictory models for a single phenomenon can be seen as evidence against realism
- While scientists may be reliable at determining which existing theories are best, we have no reason to believe that the true theory is among the current options
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Relationship between realism and idealism
- Idealism sees the real world as a product of thought, whereas realism sees belief as a product of material conditions
- Idealism attempts to justify existing social and political structures rather than critically examining them
- Thinking alone cannot resolve the questions it raises itself; practical action is necessary to address realistic issues
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