21 lines
715 B
Markdown
21 lines
715 B
Markdown
---
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tags:
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- status/fleeting
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---
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# Realism vs. Instrumentalism
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Realism holds that the purpose of ~~science~~
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is to describe the world as accurately as possible.
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Instrumentalism (anti-realism) holds that the purpose
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is to make accurate predictions.
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> [!quote] George E. P. Box, British statistician
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> All models are wrong, but some are useful.
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> [!quote] _Did Copernicus steal ideas from Islamic astronomers?_, Opinionated History of Mathematics (pp.)
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> Ptolemy's lunar model is "flawed"
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> in that it inaccurately describes Luna's distance from Earth,
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> however Ptolemy only ever uses the model to predict eclipses,
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> which the model does very well.
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> The discrepancy is only a flaw from a realist perspective.
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