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Philosophy Bites

David Papineau on Scientific Realism

Philosophy Bites

Nigel Warburton

Education, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.62K Ratings

🗓️ 22 January 2009

⏱️ 19 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Scientists talk about sub-atomic particles which are invisible to the eye. Do such particles really exist? Or are they simply convenient fictions that, for the moment at least, explain the observable phenomena? David Papineau discusses and defends scientific realism in this episode of Philosophy Bites.

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is philosophy bites with me David Edmonds and me Nigel Warburton.

0:07.0

Philosophy bites is available at www philosophy bites.

0:11.0

Most scientists now believe that there are unobservable entities in the world.

0:16.0

These entities can't be seen, touched, smelt or felt.

0:19.0

In that sense, they're not like ordinary objects, tables or tomatoes or television sets, but at least according to scientific realists, they're just as real as tables or tomatoes or television sets.

0:31.0

David Papano is a tangible professor of King's College London.

0:35.0

David Papano, welcome to Philosophy Bites.

0:38.0

I'm very pleased to be here, Nigel.

0:40.0

We're focusing on scientific realism.

0:44.0

Could you just explain what scientific realism is and perhaps say what the issue is?

0:49.0

Scientific realism is the view that the world as described by scientific theories really exists and we know about that world.

0:58.0

And in particular it's concerned with the world of unobservables, the world of electrons and atoms,

1:06.1

molecules, viruses, radio waves and so on, things that we can't see. So it's a

1:11.1

contentious issue whether we really do know them to exist or not.

1:15.5

In the area of philosophy of science, skepticism is a serious option, the view that while

1:22.3

there no doubt is an unob-abservable world, we have no way of finding out about it.

1:27.0

If you compare that with the philosophy, epistemology of the everyday medium-sized physical object world.

1:34.0

There we talk about skepticism in philosophy

1:38.0

101 in the classroom,

1:40.0

but it's just an exercise.

1:41.0

How can you refute the skeptic?

1:42.0

Nobody really thinks that we don't know about tables and chairs and everyday objects.

...

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