pdf (Español (España))
FLIP
Authors
Abstract
This article addresses the question of what the metaphysics of science is. The fact that this discipline positively contributes to the articulation of our scientifi c conception of reality is defended. After characterizing the interaction between science and metaphysics (section 1), four constructions of the metaphysics of science are analyzed: radical metaphysical maximalism, which maintains that metaphysics makes science possible (section 2); moderate metaphysical maximalism, which suggests that science is unavoidably metaphysical given its interests in unobservable entities (section 3); moderate metaphysical minimalism, which points to the slippery metaphysical slope that involves the framework of scientifi c theories (section 4); and radical metaphysical minimalism, which maintains that metaphysical speculation must be restricted to the examination of ontological assumptions of our best current scientifi c theories. Section 6 concludes with some observations of the positive contribution of the metaphysics of science to our knowledge of reality.
Keywords:
References
Armstrong, David. “Defending Categoricalism”. Properties, Powers, and Structures. Issues in the Metaphysics of Realism. New York and London: Routledge, 2012. Impreso.
Bird, Alexander. “Monistic Dispositional Essentialism”. Properties, Powers, and Structures. Issues in the Metaphysics of Realism. New York and London: Routledge, 2012. Impreso.
Chakravartty, Anjan. “Metaphysics between the Sciences and Philosophies of Science”. New Waves in the Philosophy of Science. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. Impreso.
__________. “On the Prospects of Naturalized Metaphysics”. Scientific Metaphysics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Impreso.
Ellis, Brian. “The Categorical Dimension of the Causal Powers”. Properties, Powers, and Structures. Issues in the Metaphysics of Realism. New York and London: Routledge, 2012. Impreso.
Esfeld, Michael. “Metaphysics of Science between Metaphysics and Science”. Grazer Philosophische Studien. 74. 2007: 199-213. Impreso.
Feynman, Richard. The Character of a Physical Law. London: Penguin Books, 1965. Impreso
Hawley, Katherine. “Science as a Guide to Metaphysics”. Synthese. 149. 451-470. Impreso.
Ladyman, James. and Don Ross. “The World in the Data”. Scientific Metaphysics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Impreso.
Mumford, Stephen. Laws in Nature. London and New York: Routledge, 2004. Impreso.
__________. Metaphysics: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Mumford, Stephen. and M. Tugby. “What is the Metaphysics of Science?” Metaphysics and Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1960. Impreso.
Papineau, David. “Introduction” The Philosophy of Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. Impreso.
Quine, Willard van Orman. “Mr. Strawson on Logical Theory”. Mind. 62, 248. 1953: 433-451.
__________. Theories and Things. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981.
Redhead, Michael. From Physics to Metaphysics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Soto, Cristian. “Globally and Locally Applied Naturalistic Metaphysics”. Manuscrito: Revista Internacional de Filosofía. Vol. 40, Nº3. 2017: 33-50. Impreso.
Wartofsky, Marx. “Metaphysics as Heuristic for Science”. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. III. Dordrecht: D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1967. Impreso.
Weinberg, Steven. Dreams of a Final Theory. London: Vintage, 1993. Impreso
