<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The no-miracles argument (Putnam 1975) holds that science is successful because successful theories are (approximately) true. Frost-Arnold (2010) objects that this argument is unacceptable because it generates neither new predictions nor unifications. It is similar to the unacceptable explanation that opium puts people to sleep because it has a dormative virtue. I reply that on close examination, realism explains not only why some theories are successful but also why successful theories exist in current science. Therefore, it unifies the disparate phenomena.</p></abstract>

The no-miracles argument (Putnam 1975) holds that science is successful because successful theories are (approximately) true. Frost-Arnold (2010) objects that this argument is unacceptable because it generates neither new predictions nor unifications. It is similar to the unacceptable explanation that opium puts people to sleep because it has a dormative virtue. I reply that on close examination, realism explains not only why some theories are successful but also why successful theories exist in current science. Therefore, it unifies the disparate phenomena.

The Unificatory Power of Scientific Realism

Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology

Disputatio

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"The Unificatory Power of Scientific Realism"}

The no-miracles argument (Putnam 1975) holds that science is successful because successful theories are (approximately) true. Frost-Arnold (2010) objects that...

The Unificatory Power of Scientific Realism

Published Online: Dec 31, 2018

Page range: 59 - 73

Received: Jan 01, 2017

Accepted: May 02, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/disp-2017-0027

Keywords
Naturalism, no-miracles argument, scientific realism, success of science, unification

© 2017 Seungbae Park, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The Unificatory Power of Scientific Realism

Published Online: Dec 31, 2018

Page range: 59 - 73

Received: Jan 01, 2017

Accepted: May 02, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/disp-2017-0027

KeywordsNaturalism, no-miracles argument, scientific realism, success of science, unification

© 2017 Seungbae Park, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Naturalism, no-miracles argument, scientific realism, success of science, unification