Philosophy Stack Exchange
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Questions tagged [anti-realism]

Anti-realism is an epistemological view first articulated in analytic philosophy by Michael Dummett. The truth of a statement rests on its being demonstrated and not on the assumed existence of an external reality associated with the statement.

The following are some sources for information about anti-realism.

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How does constructive empiricism differ from instrumentalism?

Constructive empiricism is the belief that science aims to give theories which are empirically adequate (i.e. agree with observables), and accepting a theory means believing that it is empirically adequate. Instrumentalism is the belief that the…
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Resources on the distinction between epistemology in pure and applied mathematics

I'm looking for recommendations for works that present roughly (or at least parts of) the following perspective on epistemology in mathematics. I hope having access to similar perspectives will allow me to be able to refine my own thoughts, and…
TomKern
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References for the Realism/Anti-Realism debate in Logic

The concept of anti-realism in logic seems to be an interesting and growing idea. I'm looking for references (papers, books, authors...) regarding the debate between realism and anti-realism but especially related to logic and mostly on the…
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Naturalism and anti-realism in the philosophy of science

I was surprised by the lack of easily accessed discussion on overlap of these popular philosophical terms / ideas. Are they more or less orthogonal? As I understand it, ontological naturalism says we should believe in the reality of only the…
user62090
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What is the difference between instrumentalism and operationalism?

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has the following definitions for these two perspectives on science: Instrumentalism: "the view that theories are merely instruments for predicting observable phenomena or systematizing observation…
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A Paradox for Anti-Realism?

Semantic Anti-Realists hold that a claim has a (constructive) proof if the claim is true. I wonder whether this position runs into a version of Yablo's supposedly non-circular version of the liar paradox. Recall that Yablo's paradox arises from what…
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Realism vs Antirealism...why does it matter?

I have a foundational knowledge of philosophy but Ive never managed to understand the basics of realism vs antirealism debates and why it matters. Ive read that there are ontological, epistemic, semantic and truth-related threads to it but textbooks…
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Canonicity and moral fictionalism

Fictionalism about sets of sentences (or propositions?) has it that the sets in question are not "literally" true. When it comes to such sets, hereafter narratives, normally recognized as fictions, there can be an issue of canonicity, which seems…
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Is there a fact of the matter? , a case [of the matter]?

Wittgenstein once said [and may have later recanted] that the world is everything that is the case, the totality of facts not of things, and that that world is determined by those facts, and they're being all the facts, since the totality of facts…
gonzo
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Does astrophysical anti-realism solve the fermi paradox?

This is called Astrophysical Antirealism, and it centers around the idea that everything that humanity has observed in deep space is inaccurate or a downright lie. https://medium.com/@wjackfield/the-philosophy-of-astrophysics-beabcf041738 Googles…
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Reference Request: Defense of the A-priori/A-posteriory distinction against psychological attacks

I was thinking over the concept of a priory reasoning coming from intuition that comes from the development of our intuitions through the duration of our lifes. Therefore Natural Heuristics does no guarantee proper logic, but just some reasoning in…
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Are the Argument From Perspectival Variation and the Argument From Perceptual Relativity one and the same?

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy explains Perspectival Variation as follows: Perspectival variation is the kind of variation in one's sensory experiences that normally attends changes in one's spatial or other physical relationship to…
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partial fictionalism about propositions

One theory of propositions is that they're "useful fictions." However, this faces the formidable objection that fictionalism makes it hard to explain how something fictional can tell us about the real world. Platonism is implausible, and so the…
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Is Nietzsche an anti-realist about moral disagreement?

This question got me thinking: What is the difference between the Superman and the Ultimateman? As I understand it, moral anti-realism is the thesis that there are no moral facts outside the individual, ones that are the case independent of the…
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What should I read to deepen my understanding about 'relativism and anti-realism'?

After some discussion, I noticed the philosophical questions I want to explore are mainly ideas that take a relativist and anti-realist point of view. (whether when it comes to morals, or concepts such as Femininity) What should I read if I want to…
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