The Metaphysics of Scientific Realism, a Pragmatist Approach

Abstract

In this essay I advance an interpretation of Scientific Realism from the viewpoint of the pragmatist tradition initiated by Charles S. Peirce. This article argues against scruples against metaphysics and proposes a pragmatistic realism that uses the pragmatic maxim in its inferentialist and operationalist aspects: the inferentialist character of the maxim emphasizes the inferential processes in which the proposition is embedded; meanwhile, the operationalist character of the maxim stresses the set of consequences that can be translated has habits of action followed by the acceptation of a proposition. My proposal is that the maxim actually presupposes both aspects. However, I highlight the value of the operationalist aspect due to the nature and experimental leaning of scientific practice. In addition, the article also claims that such promising pragmatistic realism in the Philosophy of science contributes more to self-controlled inquiry and is not metaphysically agnostic. Towards the end I offer the example of the structuralist approach in mathematics as a token of the application of the maxim to conceptual issues about the reality of items of our best scientific theories.