Scientific Pluralism Reconsidered: A New Approach to the (Dis)unity of Science

209 Pages·2017·6.713 MB·English

by  Stephanie Ruphy

SCIENTIFIC
PLURALISM
RECONSIDERED

SCIENTIFIC
PLURALISM
RECONSIDERED
A NEW APPROACH TO THE (DIS)UNITY OF SCIENCE
STÉPHANIE RUPHY
UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH PRESS
Revised and augmented English-language edition originally published in
French as Pluralismes scientifiques: Enjeux épistémiques et métaphysiques
© 2013, Éditions Hermann, Paris
Published by the University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15260
Copyright © 2016, University of Pittsburgh Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Printed on acid-free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Cataloging-in-Publication data is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 13: 978-0-8229-4458-4
ISBN 10: 0-8229-4458-8
Jacket art: Olivier Umecker
Jacket design: Greta Polo
For Francesca

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
1. Languages, Methods, Objects 3
The Linguistic Unity of the Vienna Circle 6
The Question of the Unity of the Object Domain of the Sciences in
Carnap’s Work 12
Traditional Methodological Unities 20
Hacking’s Styles of Scientific Reasoning 23
Ontological Enrichment and “Foliated Pluralism” 30
2. Intertheoretic Relations and Their Metaphysical Import 35
Metaphysical Foundations of Antireductionist Theses 36
From the Failure of Reductionism to the Disorder of Things:
A Problematic Inference 53
Against Cartwright’s Nomological Metaphysical Pluralism 58
Ontological Order and Nomological Disorder in the Structuralist
Approach 65
Nonreductive Intertheoretic Relations and Unity of Nature 71
Intermediate Conclusion 76
3. Representations 80
Current Defining Lines of the Monism versus Pluralism
Debate 81
Simulations of Real-World Physical Systems: A Case of Permanent
Incompatible Plurality 93
Taxonomic Pluralism 110
Concluding Remarks 132
Notes 137
References 161
Index 175
viii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Special thanks to Philip Kitcher for his ongoing support and the
decisive role he played in my philosophical orientation when I was
a graduate student some years ago at Columbia under his supervi-
sion. His teaching and writings have greatly influenced me, and I
have enormously benefited from our conversations. I owe Philip an
enormous intellectual debt.
I would like to warmly thank David Ludwig, who read the pen-
ultimate version of the manuscript and provided numerous and very
valuable suggestions. Comments from an anonymous referee from
the University of Pittsburgh Press also contributed to improving
the manuscript. Thanks especially to Abby Collier, my acquiring
editor, who has been very supportive, to Charles Wolfe, who greatly
contributed to smoothing my English, and to the staff at University
of Pittsburgh Press.
I am also grateful to Max Kistler, Jean Gayon, Pierre Livet, San-
dra Laugier, and François Clémentz, who carefully read an early
French version of the manuscript.
Some of the ideas and arguments in the book have appeared
elsewhere. The fourth and fifth sections of chapter 1 draw on
my “From Hacking’s Plurality of Styles of Scientific Reason-
ing to ‘Foliated Pluralism’: A Philosophically Robust Form of
Ontologico-Methodological Pluralism,” which appeared in Phi-
losophy of Science in 2011. The first through fourth sections of
ix