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Local Philosophies of Science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Nick Huggett
Nick Huggett*
Affiliation:
University of Illinois at Chicago
*
†Send requests for reprints to the author, Department of Philosophy, M/C 267, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607.
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Abstract

Since the collapse of the ‘received view’ consensus in the late 1960s, the question of scientific realism has been a major preoccupation of philosophers of science. This paper sketches the history of this debate, which grew from developments in the philosophy of language, but eventually took on an autonomous existence. More recently, the debate has tended towards more ‘local’ considerations of particular scientific episodes as a way of getting purchase on the issues. The paper reviews two such approaches, Fine's and Hacking's, describing their positions, their prospects, and how they are related. Finally, the paper suggests that local philosophies of science offer a way for our discipline to engage more fruitfully with the public and the scientific community.

Type
Metaphilosophy and the History of the Philosophy of Science
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 67 , Issue S3: Supplement. Proceedings of the 1998 Biennial Meetings of the Philosophy of Science Association. Part II: Symposia Papers Sep., 2000 , 2000 , pp. S128 - S137
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

My thanks to Mauricio Suárez for bibliographic suggestions.

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