Repository | Journal | Volume | Article

236520

Structural realism and Davidson

Jack Ritchie

pp. 85-100

Abstract

Structural realism is an attempt to balance the competing demands of the No Miracles Argument and the Pessimistic Meta-Induction. In this paper I trace the development of the structuralist idea through the work of one of its leading advocates, John Worrall. I suggest that properly thought through what the structuralist is offering or should be offering is not an account of how to divide up a theory into two parts—structure and ontology—but (perhaps surprisingly) a certain kind of theory of meaning—semantic holism. I explain how a version of structural realism can be developed using Davidson’s theory of meaning and some advantages this has over the Ramsey-sentence version of structuralism.

Publication details

Published in:

(2008) Synthese 162 (1).

Pages: 85-100

DOI: 10.1007/s11229-007-9171-z

Full citation:

Ritchie Jack (2008) „Structural realism and Davidson“. Synthese 162 (1), 85–100.