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title: Realism vs. Instrumentalism
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# Realism vs. Instrumentalism

Realism holds that the purpose of [scientific research](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research)
is to describe the world as accurately as possible.
Instrumentalism (anti-realism) holds that the purpose
is to make accurate predictions.

> [!quote] George E. P. Box, British statistician
> All models are wrong, but some are useful.

> [!quote] _Opinionated History of Mathematics_, "Did Copernicus steal ideas from Islamic astronomers?" (pp.)
> Ptolemy's lunar model is "flawed"
> in that it inaccurately describes Luna's distance from Earth,
> however Ptolemy only ever used the model to predict eclipses,
> which the model does very well.
> The discrepancy is only a flaw from a realist perspective.
