The Metaphysics of Scientific Realism

This book presents a major statement on the dominant philosophy of science by one of the world's leading metaphysicians. Brian Ellis's new book develops the metaphysics of scientific realism to the point where it begins to take on the characteristics of a first philosophy. As most people understand it, scientific realism is not yet such a theory. It is not sufficiently general, and has no plausible applications in fields other than the well-established sciences. Nevertheless, Ellis demonstrates that the original arguments that led to scientific realism may be deployed more widely than they originally were to fill out a more complete picture of what there is. Ellis shows that realistic theories of quantum mechanics, time, causality and human freedom can all be developed satisfactorily, and moral theory can be recast to fit within this comprehensive metaphysical framework. In The Metaphysics of Scientific Realism, Brian Ellis develops the metaphysics of scientific realism to the point where it begins to take on the characteristics of a first philosophy, that is, as a theory about the nature of reality that can reasonably adjudicate on theories in other fields of enquiry in which assumptions are made about the basic nature of the world. As most people understand it, scientific realism is not yet such a theory. Nevertheless, Ellis shows that the original arguments that led to scientific realism may be deployed more widely than they were originally to fill out a more complete picture of what there is. Ellis shows that realistic theories of quantum mechanics, time, causality and human freedom #x96; all problematic areas for the acceptance of scientific realism #x96; can be developed satisfactorily. In particular, Ellis shows how moral theory can be recast to fit within this comprehensive metaphysical framework by developing a radical moral theory that conceives morals to be social ideals and which has implications for key ethical concepts such as moral responsibility, moral powers, moral rights and moral obligations. The Metaphysics of Scientific Realism is a bold and original development of the scientific characterization of reality by one of the world#x92;s leading metaphysicians of science. It marks a significant contribution not only to philosophy of science and metaphysics but also to the search for a first philosophy In The Metaphysics of Scientific Realism , Brian Ellis develops the metaphysics of scientific realism to the point where it begins to take on the characteristics of a first philosophy, that is, a theory about the nature of reality that can reasonably adjudicate on theories in other fields of enquiry in which assumptions are made about the basic nature of the world. Ellis shows that the original arguments that led to scientific realism may be deployed more widely than they were at first to fill out a more complete picture of what there is. Ellis shows that realistic theories of quantum mechanics, time, causality and human freedom all problematic areas for the acceptance of scientific realism can be developed satisfactorily. In particular, he shows how moral theory can be recast to fit within this comprehensive metaphysical framework by developing a radical moral theory that conceives morals to be social ideals and has implications for key ethical concepts such as moral responsibility, moral powers, moral rights, and moral obligations. The Metaphysics of Scientific Realism is a bold and original development of the scientific characterization of reality by one of the worlds leading metaphysicians of science. It marks a significant contribution not only to philosophy of science and metaphysics but also to the search for a first philosophy. Brian Ellis's new book develops the metaphysics of scientific realism to the point where it begins to take on the characteristics of a first philosophy. As most people understand it, scientific realism is not yet such a theory. It is not sufficiently general, and has no plausible applications in fields other than the well-established sciences. Nevertheless, Ellis demonstrates that the original arguments that led to scientific realism may be deployed more widely than they originally were to fill out a more complete picture of what there is. Realistic theories of quantum mechanics, time, causality and human freedom can all be developed satisfactorily, and moral theory can be recast to fit within this comprehensive metaphysical framework. The resulting moral theory, which turns out to be a form of "social contractual" utilitarianism, is a significant addition to the literature and is shown to be more defensible than other forms of utilitarianism Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Dedication 6 Table of Contents 8 Preface 10 Introduction 14 1 Science and metaphysics 20 2 The ontology of scientific realism 36 3 Essentialist realism 64 4 Quantum mechanical realism 86 5 Causal powers and categorical dimensions 106 6 Realism as first philosophy 128 7 Realism in ethics 154 Bibliography 180 Index 188 Demonstrates that the original arguments that led to scientific realism may be deployed more widely than they originally were to fill out a more complete picture of what there is. This book shows that realistic theories of quantum mechanics, time, causality and human freedom can all be developed satisfactorily.