Skip to main content

Handling Humility

Towards a Metaphysically Informed Naturalism

  • Chapter
Reflections on Naturalism

Abstract

One might start with the following ‘realist recipe’ for obtaining an understanding of how the world is: we choose our best theories; we read off the relevant features of those theories and then we assert that an appropriate relationship holds between those features and the world. These features might be theoretical terms, say, and the relationship would be that of reference between that term and the associated object; or they might be features such as the laws and symmetries of the theory and the relationship might be that of representation, however construed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 49.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Baker, A. (2009). Mathematical explanation in science. Brit. J. Phil. Sci., 60, 611–633.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belot, G. (2009). Simplicity and ontology. Talk given at the Pacific APA, Vancouver.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bueno, O., & French, S. (2012). Can mathematics explain physical phenomena?, with O. Bueno, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 63(1), 85–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Callender, C. (2011). Philosophy of science and metaphysics. In S. French & J. Saatsi (Eds.), The continuum companion to the philosophy of science. Continuum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carnap, R. (1963). Intellectual autobiography. In P. A. Schilpp (Ed.), The philosophy of Rudolf Carnap (pp. 3–84). La Salle, IL: Open Court.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cassirer, E. (1936). Determinism and indeterminism in modern physics. Yale University Press (1956).

    Google Scholar 

  • Caulton, A. & Butterfield, J. (2012). Symmetries and paraparticles as a motivation for structuralism. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 63(2), 233–285.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chalmers, D., Manley, D., & Wasserman, R. (Eds.). (2009). Metametaphysics: New essays on the foundations of ontology. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chakravartty, A. (1998). Semirealism. Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Science, 29, 391–408.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chakravartty, A. (2003). The structuralist conception of objects. Philosophy of Science, 70, 867–878.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chakravartty, A., (2007). A metaphysics for scientific realism. Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chakravartty, A. (2010). Metaphysics between the sciences and philosophies of science. In P. D. Magnus & J. Busch (Eds.), New waves in philosophy of science (pp. 59–77). Palgrame Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Da Costa, N. C. A., & French, S. (2003). Science and partial Truth. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dicken, P. (2008). Conditions may apply. Stud. Hist. Phil. Sci., 39, 290–293.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Esfeld, M. (forthcoming). Causal realism. In Dennis Dieks & Marcel Weber (Eds.), Points of contact between the philosophy of physics and the philosophy of biology. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Faraday, M. (1844). A speculation on the nature of matter. L. E. D. Philosophical Magazine, XXIV, 140–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • French, S. (2006). Structure as a weapon of the realist. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 106, 167–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • French, S. (forthcoming). The structural of the world: Methaphysics and representation. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • French, S., & Krause, D. (2006). Identity in physics. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • French, S., & Ladyman, J. (2003). Remodelling structural realism: Quantum physics and the metaphysics of structure; and The dissolution of objects: A reply to Cao. Synthese, 136, 31–56 and 73–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • French, S., & Ladyman, J. (2011). In defence of ontic structural realism. In A. Bokulich & P. Bokulich (Eds.), Scientific structuralism (pp. 25–42). Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science. Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • French, S., & McKenzie, K. (forthcoming). Thinking outside the (tool) box: Towards a more productive engagement between metaphysics and philosophy of physics. European Journal of Analytic Philosophy.

    Google Scholar 

  • French, S., & Redhead, M. (1988). Quantum physics and the identity of indiscernibles. The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 39, 233–246.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gracia, J. (1988). Individuality. State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawley, K. (2006). Science as a guide to metaphysics? Synthese, 149, 451–470.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hawley, K. (2009). Identity and indiscernibility. Mind, 118, 101–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hawley, K. (2010). Protecting rainforest realism. Metascience, 19, 161–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hawthorne, J. (2001). Causal structuralism. Philosophical Perspectives, 15, 361–378.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howard, D. (2011). The physics and metaphysics of identity and individuality. Metascience, 20, 225–231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ladyman, J. (1998). What is structural realism? Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 29, 409–424.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ladyman, J., & Bigaj, T. (2010). The principle of the identity of indiscernibles and quantum mechanics. Philosophy of Science, 77, 117–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ladyman, J., & Ross, D. (2007). Every thing must go: Metaphysics naturalized. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Langton, R. (1998). Kantian humility. Our ignorance of things in themselves. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Langton, R. (2004). Elusive knowledge of things in themselves. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 82, 129–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langton, R. (2009). Ignorance and intrinsicality. Talk given at the Pacific APA, Vancouver.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, David. (2009). Ramseyan humility. In David Braddon-Mitchell & Robert Nola (Eds.), Conceptual analysis and philosophical naturalism (pp. 203–222). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Monton, B. (forthcoming). Prolegomena to any future physics-based metaphysics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Price, H. (2009). Metaphysics after Carnap: The ghost who walks. In David Chalmers, Ryan Wasserman, & David Manley (Eds.), Metametaphysics (pp. 320–346). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Psillos, S. (1999). Scientific realism: How science tracks truth. Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saatsi, J. (2007). Living in harmony: Nominalism and the explanationist argument for realism. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 21(1), 19–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saatsi, J. (2008). Eclectic realism – The proof of the pudding. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 39, 273–276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saatsi, J. (2010). The enhanced indispensability argument. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 62, 143–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saunders, S. (2003). Physics and Leibniz’s principle. In K. Brading & E. Castellani (Eds.), Symmetries in physics: Philosophical reflections. Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schaffer, J. (2005). Quiddistic knowledge. Philosophical Studies, 123, 1–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sider, T. (2001). Four-dimensionalism. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Van Fraassen, B. (1989). Quantum mechanics: An empiricist approach. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Worrall, J. (1989). Structural realism: The best of both worlds? Dialectica, 43, 99–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wuthrich, C. (forthcoming). The fate of presentism in modern physics. In Roberto Ciuni, Kristie Miller, & Giuliano Torrengo (Eds.), New papers on the present – Focus on presentism. Philosophia Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Sense Publishers

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

French, S. (2013). Handling Humility. In: Galparsoro, J.I., Cordero, A. (eds) Reflections on Naturalism. SensePublishers, Rotterdam. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6209-296-9_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Societies and partnerships