Entity Realism

Egg, Matthias (2018). Entity Realism. In: The Routledge Handbook on Scientific Realism (pp. 120-132). London: Routledge

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This chapter discusses an approach known as entity realism or experimental realism, which was introduced in the early 1980s by Ian Hacking and Nancy Cartwright and seeks to defend some middle ground between traditional scientific realism and antirealism. I start by introducing Hacking’s version of entity realism, which is based on an argument from manipulability. After responding to some of the criticism that has been directed against this argument, I will turn to Cartwright’s version of entity realism, which is based on a distinction between causal and theoretical explanations. An assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of this approach will pave the way for advertising what I take to be the relevant heritage of entity realism in the contemporary debate on scientific realism.

Item Type:	Book Section (Book Chapter)
Division/Institute:	06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of Art and Cultural Studies > Institute of Philosophy 06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of Art and Cultural Studies > Institute of Philosophy > Theoretical Philosophy
UniBE Contributor:	Egg, Matthias
Subjects:	100 Philosophy 100 Philosophy > 120 Epistemology
ISBN:	978-1-138-88885-2
Publisher:	Routledge
Language:	English
Submitter:	Matthias Peter Egg
Date Deposited:	23 Apr 2018 11:55
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 15:12
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/113684