Scientific Representation and Realism

• Main Author: Michel Ghins
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina 2011-12-01
• Series: Principia: An International Journal of Epistemology
• Subjects: Representation; realism; van Fraassen; model; judgements.
• Online Access: http://www.periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/principia/article/view/1808-1711.2011v15n3p461/22390

After a brief presentation of what I take to be the representational démarche in science, I stress the fundamental role of true judgements in model construction. The success and correctness of a representation rests on the truth of judgements which attribute properties to real targeted entities, called “ontic judgements”. I then present what van Fraassen calls “the Loss of Reality objection”. After criticizing his dissolution of the objection, I offer an alternative way of answering the Loss of Reality objection by showing that the contact of our models with reality is grounded on the truth of ontic judgements. I conclude by examining.