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Palgrave Macmillan
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Counterfactuals and Scientific Realism

  • Book
  • © 2012

Overview

Authors:
  1. Michael J. Shaffer

    1. St. Cloud State University, USA

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Part of the book series: New Directions in the Philosophy of Science (NDPS)

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Table of contents (5 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
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  2. Introduction

    • Michael J. Shaffer
    Pages 1-10

  3. The Concept of Idealization

    • Michael J. Shaffer
    Pages 11-46

  4. The Ubiquity of Idealization and Its Logic

    • Michael J. Shaffer
    Pages 47-100

  5. Epistemic Access, Confirmation, and Idealization

    • Michael J. Shaffer
    Pages 101-144

  6. Idealization, Inference to the Best Explanation, and Scientific Realism

    • Michael J. Shaffer
    Pages 145-193

  7. Back Matter

    Pages 194-209
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Keywords

About this book

The author attempts to show that scientific realism is compatible with the presence of idealization in the sciences. His main contention is that idealized theories can be treated as counterfactuals about how things are in worlds that are similar to but simpler than the actual world.

Authors and Affiliations

  • St. Cloud State University, USA

    Michael J. Shaffer

About the author

MICHAEL SHAFFER is Associate Professor of Philosophy at St. Cloud State University, USA. He is the author of The Experimental Turn and the Methods of Philosophy, co-editor of What Place for the A Priori? and has published many articles about epistemology, logic and the philosophy of science.

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