---
id:
aliases: []
title: Realism vs. Instrumentalism
tags:
  - authorship/original
  - destiny/fleeting
  - status/draft
  - type/encyclopedia-entry
dg-publish: true
---
# 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) argues that the purpose
is to _forecast as accurately as possible_.

> [!quote] George E. P. Box, British statistician
> All models are wrong, but some are useful.[^1]

[^1]: > [!quote] [[box_1987_empirical-model-building#The Use of Approximating Functions]] 
    > The fact that the polynomial is an approximation
    > does not necessarily detract from its usefulness
    > because all models are approximations.
    > Essentially, 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.