Table of Contents

Preface.
Part I: REALISM
Chapter 1: Explanation, Description and Scientific Realism
Chapter 2: The Myth of Astronomical Instrumentalism
Chapter 3: The Ultimate Argument for Scientific Realism
Chapter 4: Wittgensteinian Instrumentalism
Chapter 5: Realism Versus Constructive Empiricism
Chapter 6: Realism and Idealisation
Chapter 7: Unreal Assumptions in Economic Theory: The F-twist untwisted
Chapter 8: NOA's Ark - Fine For Realism
Chapter 9: Conceptual Idealism and Stove's Gem
Chapter 10: The T-Scheme Plus Epistemic Truth Equals Idealism
Part II: RATIONALISM
Chapter 11: Falsification and its Critics
Chapter 12: Logical versus Historical Theories of Confirmation
Chapter 13: Facts and Values in Science Studies
Chapter 14: Deductivism versus Psychologism
Chapter 15: Deductive Heuristics
Chapter 16: Critical Rationalism
References
Index of names

Reviews

The book's essays represent an important contribution to the contemporary philosophical debate concerning Realism and Rationalism. The author defends in a clear and consistent fashion a fallibilist, realistic, and rationalist position in opposition to the idealistic and relativistic viewpoint characteristic of present postmodern philosophy. – Hans Albert