Disarming the Ultimate Historical Challenge to Scientific Realism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8397129 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peter Vickers (0000-0001-5644-4290, Durham University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 71 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 987-1012 |
| Publication date | 2020-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-0882 • E-ISSN: 1464-3537 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/bjps/axy035 |
| PMID | 32801386 |
| OpenAlex | W3048830680 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 22 |
Probably the most dramatic historical challenge to scientific realism concerns Arnold Sommerfeld's ([1916]) derivation of the fine structure energy levels of hydrogen. Not only were his predictions good, he derived exactly the same formula that would later drop out of Dirac's 1928 treatment (something not possible using 1925 Schrödinger-Heisenberg quantum mechanics). And yet the most central elements of Sommerfeld's theory were not even approximately true: his derivation leans heavily on a classical approach to elliptical orbits, including the necessary adjustments to these orbits demanded by relativity. Even physicists call Sommerfeld's success a 'miracle', which rather makes a joke of the so-called 'no miracles argument'. However, this can all be turned around. Here I argue that the realist has a story to tell vis-à-vis the discontinuities between the old and the new theory, leading to a realist defence based on sufficient continuity of relevant structure. 1Introduction2No Realist Commitment Required?3Enter the Physicists4A New Approach to the Non-relativistic Success5Relativity and Spin6Structure and Realist Commitment7Conclusion.
History of science · Joke · Philosophy of science · Realism · Scientific realism · Scientific theory · Philosophy and History of Science · Quantum Mechanics and Applications · Relativity and Gravitational Theory
History of Science Literacy as a Core of Science Literacy
Is Farr's cholera law of elevation a counterexample to selective realism
How many properties of spin does a particle have
Escaping the Fundamental Dichotomy of Scientific Realism
Knowledge of the Quantum Domain
Scientific realism and underdetermination in quantum theory
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,2 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2026 (6) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |