Abstract
The adjective ‘scientific’ as used in the title of this lecture refers in the first place to modern experimental and mathematical physics; and to the other natural sciences insofar as they follow the lead of physics and thrive in its light. I do not place this restriction on the word in the context of this lecture because I hold other forms of learning in contempt as non-scientific. Far from it. However, the issues of “scientific realism” which are the subject of this conference do not rise outside physics and its near relatives. Thus, I have never heard a musicologist or a philosopher of musicology question the reality of Bach’s “Well-Tempered Clavier”, or of the Fugue in C minor in Book I, or of the main theme of that fugue. Nor do linguists and philosophers of language have any doubts regarding the pervasive presence of the genitive absolute in classical Greek.
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Torretti, R. (2000). ‘Scientific Realism’ and Scientific Practice. In: Agazzi, E., Pauri, M. (eds) The Reality of the Unobservable. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 215. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9391-5_6
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