Novelty in Scientific Realism: New Approaches to an Ongoing Debate

Abstract

: Scientific realism plays a central role in the philosophico-methodo-logical discussions on research. Two are the main directions in the contributions made to scientific realism: the “ internal ” line and the “ external ” path. Following the first line, there are new visions of realism focused on central aspects of science: semantic, logic, epistemological, methodological, ontological, axiological, and ethical components. When the route follows the second path, realism in science is seen as interrelated with realism in technology and as connected to a philosophical approach to society. Altogether there is now a plethora of characterizations of scientific realism, and this paper presents the main contemporary versions of scientific realism. The analysis of the central tenets of the recent views on scientific realism contributes to present this book, which offers novelty to the ongoing debate on scientific realism.