Lydia Drabkin-Reiter (Oxford): Pessimistic inductions and the success-truth link
Some of the most influential arguments against the scientific realist stance are so-called pessimistic inductions. Broadly construed, these argue in various ways from the proliferation of false-but-successful theories in the history of science to doubt about the truthlikeness of our current and future successful scientific theories.
I will discuss the effectiveness of these arguments in undermining a link between success and truth in scientific theories, and how their effectiveness depends not only on the particular formulation of the pessimistic induction, but also on the particular construal of both scientific realism and success.
