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Realism versus Instrumentalism in a New Statistical Framework

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Gregory M. Mikkelson
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Abstract

In this paper, I offer a new defense of scientific realism, tailored for the Akaikean paradigm of statistical hypothesis testing. After proposing definitions of verisimilitude and predictive success, I use computer simulations to show how the latter depends on the former, even in the kind of case featured in a recent argument for instrumentalism.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 73 , Issue 4 , October 2006 , pp. 440 - 447
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

Thanks to Mario Bunge, Malcolm Forster, Guido Marziali, Storrs McCall, Jeff Mikkelson, Jay Odenbaugh, Andrew Reisner, Elliott Sober, and two anonymous referees for helpful feedback on this paper.

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