The “Positive Argument” for Constructive Empiricism and Inference to the Best Explanation
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DOI: 10.1007/s10838-018-9414-3
Abstract: In this paper, I argue that the “positive argument” for Constructive Empiricism (CE), according to which CE “makes better sense of science, and of scientific activity, than realism does” (van Fraassen in The scientific image,… read more here.
Keywords: argument constructive; best explanation; inference best; argument ... See more keywords
Explanationism provides the best explanation of the epistemic significance of peer disagreement
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DOI: 10.1007/s11098-019-01286-0
Abstract: In this paper, I provide a novel explanationist framework for thinking about peer disagreement that solves many of the puzzles regarding disagreement that have troubled epistemologists over the last two decades. Explanationism is the view… read more here.
Keywords: disagreement; best explanation; peer disagreement; explanationism provides ... See more keywords
Why inference to the best explanation doesn’t secure empirical grounds for mathematical platonism
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DOI: 10.1007/s11229-018-02043-2
Abstract: Proponents of the explanatory indispensability argument for mathematical platonism maintain that claims about mathematical entities play an essential explanatory role in some of our best scientific explanations. They infer that the existence of mathematical entities… read more here.
Keywords: best explanation; mathematical platonism; inference best; mathematical entities ... See more keywords
On Inferring Explanations and Inference to the Best Explanation
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DOI: 10.1017/epi.2023.19
Abstract: Although the inferring of explanations plays an important role in both our everyday lives and in the workings of science, I argue that inference to the best explanation as it is commonly conceived is often… read more here.
Keywords: explanations inference; inference best; inferring explanations; best explanation ... See more keywords