scientific realism
E695517
Scientific realism is a philosophical position holding that well-confirmed scientific theories genuinely describe both observable and unobservable aspects of a mind-independent reality.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Critical Scientific Realism | 1 |
| scientific realism canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T7799405 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: scientific realism Context triple: [Alan Musgrave, movement, scientific realism]
-
A.
Philosophy of Natural Science
Philosophy of Natural Science is a foundational work in the philosophy of science that systematically examines the logic, methods, and explanatory aims of empirical scientific inquiry.
-
B.
unity of science
Unity of science is a philosophical doctrine holding that all scientific disciplines are fundamentally interconnected and can, in principle, be integrated into a single coherent framework.
-
C.
logical positivism
Logical positivism is a 20th-century philosophical movement that emphasizes the verification of statements through empirical observation and logical analysis, rejecting metaphysics as cognitively meaningless.
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D.
Philosophy of Science: A Systematic Account
"Philosophy of Science: A Systematic Account" is a foundational work in analytic philosophy that systematically examines the logical structure, methods, and conceptual foundations of the natural sciences.
-
E.
falsificationism
Falsificationism is a philosophy of science, chiefly associated with Karl Popper, which holds that scientific theories can never be conclusively verified but can and should be rigorously tested and potentially refuted by empirical evidence.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: scientific realism Target entity description: Scientific realism is a philosophical position holding that well-confirmed scientific theories genuinely describe both observable and unobservable aspects of a mind-independent reality.
-
A.
Philosophy of Natural Science
Philosophy of Natural Science is a foundational work in the philosophy of science that systematically examines the logic, methods, and explanatory aims of empirical scientific inquiry.
-
B.
unity of science
Unity of science is a philosophical doctrine holding that all scientific disciplines are fundamentally interconnected and can, in principle, be integrated into a single coherent framework.
-
C.
logical positivism
Logical positivism is a 20th-century philosophical movement that emphasizes the verification of statements through empirical observation and logical analysis, rejecting metaphysics as cognitively meaningless.
-
D.
Philosophy of Science: A Systematic Account
"Philosophy of Science: A Systematic Account" is a foundational work in analytic philosophy that systematically examines the logical structure, methods, and conceptual foundations of the natural sciences.
-
E.
falsificationism
Falsificationism is a philosophy of science, chiefly associated with Karl Popper, which holds that scientific theories can never be conclusively verified but can and should be rigorously tested and potentially refuted by empirical evidence.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (52)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
epistemological view
ⓘ
metaphysical view ⓘ philosophical position ⓘ position in philosophy of science ⓘ |
| appliesTo |
biology
ⓘ
chemistry ⓘ fundamental physics ⓘ mature scientific theories ⓘ |
| associatedWithPhilosopher |
Bas van Fraassen (as critic)
ⓘ
linked to:
Bas van Fraassen
Hilary Putnam ⓘ J. J. C. Smart ⓘ Karl Popper ⓘ Richard Boyd ⓘ Wilfrid Sellars ⓘ |
| challengedByArgument |
pessimistic meta-induction
ⓘ
underdetermination of theory by data ⓘ |
| concerns |
observable entities
ⓘ
scientific explanation ⓘ scientific progress ⓘ scientific theories ⓘ unobservable entities ⓘ |
| debatedIn |
epistemology
ⓘ
metaphysics ⓘ philosophy of science ⓘ |
| hasAspect |
epistemic realism
ⓘ
metaphysical realism ⓘ semantic realism ⓘ |
| hasComponentClaim |
scientific laws describe real patterns in nature
ⓘ
successful prediction is evidence for approximate truth ⓘ theoretical terms in science are truth-apt ⓘ |
| hasCoreClaim |
mature scientific theories are at least approximately true about unobservables
ⓘ
scientific progress is progress toward truth ⓘ scientific theories aim to give true descriptions of the world ⓘ the world exists independently of human minds ⓘ unobservable entities posited by successful theories exist ⓘ well-confirmed scientific theories are approximately true ⓘ |
| hasVariant |
entity realism
ⓘ
explanationist scientific realism ⓘ selective realism ⓘ structural realism ⓘ |
| opposedTo |
anti-realism about unobservables
ⓘ
constructive empiricism ⓘ instrumentalism ⓘ logical positivism ⓘ |
| presupposes |
mind-independent reality
ⓘ
reference of theoretical terms to real entities ⓘ truth as correspondence to reality ⓘ |
| relatedConcept |
empiricism
ⓘ
realism in metaphysics ⓘ scientific anti-realism ⓘ truthlikeness (verisimilitude) ⓘ |
| supportedByArgument |
no-miracles argument
ⓘ
linked to:
no miracles argument
|
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: scientific realism Description of subject: Scientific realism is a philosophical position holding that well-confirmed scientific theories genuinely describe both observable and unobservable aspects of a mind-independent reality.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: scientific realism