Scientific realism

There is something there. But just because your theory is good does not mean that the entities in your theory are "really there", whatever that might mean...

— Scientific realism

I claim that the success of current scientific theories is no miracle. It is not even surprising to the scientific (Darwinist) mind. For any scientific theory is born into a life of fierce competition, a jungle red in tooth and claw. Only the successful theories survive—the ones which in fact latched onto the actual regularities in nature.

— Scientific realism

The most common misunderstanding about science is that scientists seek and find truth. They don't — they make and test models.

— Scientific realism

From among the various conceptual schemes best suited to these various pursuits, one—the phenomenalistic—claims epistemological priority. Viewed from within the phenomenalistic conceptual scheme, the ontologies of physical objects and mathematical objects are myths. The quality of myth, however, is relative; relative, in this case, to the epistemological point of view. This point of view is one among various, corresponding to one among our various interests and purposes.

— Scientific realism

There is a strange and wonderful reality out there, but until we devise an experiment that teaches us more than we presently know, it's better to embrace reality as we can measure it than to impose an additional structure driven by our own biases. Until we do that, we're superficially philosophizing about a matter where scientific intervention is required. Until we devise that key experiment, we'll all remain in the dark.

— Scientific realism

The debate between scientific realists and anti-realists is one of the classics of philosophy of science, comparable to a soccer match between Brazil and Argentina.

— Scientific realism