Question 1

Hawley asserts that the "____________argument asserts that there are plenty of theories in the history of science which were empirically successful, but which posited the existence of entities in which we no longer believe. The aim is to undermine the realist claim that empirical success is a reliable symptom of theoretical truth."

Accepted Answer

The phrase "to undermine the realist claim that empirical success is a reliable symptom of theoretical truth" indicates that this argument is being used to challenge or oppose realism. Therefore, the best option is anti-realist. The other options do not specifically refer to opposing realism or the reliability of empirical success.

Question 2

Hawley calls the attempt to show that the scientific metaphysics is not involved in generating novel prediction, and thus that its appearance in a scientific theory does not give us reason to think it true, ...

Accepted Answer

The word "undermining" implies that the argument being discussed is attempting to weaken or discredit the claim that scientific metaphysics is involved in generating novel prediction, and therefore its appearance in a scientific theory is not a reason to think that theory is true.

Question 3

Hawley calls the position that accepts that the scientific metaphysics is genuinely confirmed by the role it plays in generating empirical success, but claims that independent reasons to believe the traditional metaphysics outweigh this scientific support, ...

Accepted Answer

This is a counterargument, because it acknowledges the scientific support for the scientific metaphysics, but then argues that traditional metaphysics is still more valid based on independent reasons.

Question 4

Hawley says there is "a widespread suspicion that science cannot really contribute to metaphysics, and that scientific findings grossly underdetermine metaphysical claims."

Accepted Answer

In this statement, Hawley is expressing the idea that many people doubt the ability of science to provide insight into philosophical questions and that scientific evidence alone may not be enough to support metaphysical claims.

Question 5

Hawley relates that "One widely-discussed example is the apparent conflict between the special theory of relativity (STR) and presentism, the view that only what is present exists."

Accepted Answer

The statement accurately represents Hawley's viewpoint on the conflict between special theory of relativity and presentism.

Question 6

According to Hawley, "Unless we can believe that there is no absolute fact of the matter as to what exists, it looks as if we shouldn't identify what exists with what is simultaneous with now. Thus presentism is incoherent."

Accepted Answer

Hawley's statement critiques presentism by highlighting the challenge of defining existence solely based on what is simultaneous with "now," but it does not declare presentism incoherent. Instead, it points out a difficulty in reconciling presentism with the idea of absolute facts about existence, suggesting a need for further clarification or adjustment in the presentist view, rather than outright incoherence.

Question 7

Hawley explains that "In order to investigate the relevance of science to metaphysics, I will assume that metaphysics is possible."

Accepted Answer

Hawley assumes that metaphysics is possible in order to investigate the relevance of science to it.

Question 8

Hawley says, "I will take it that metaphysical claims may be meaningless even when they are not subject to empirical confirmation or disconfirmation."

Accepted Answer

The answer of Hawley says, "I will take it that...

Question 9

Hawley explains that the term "metaphysically relevant" is understood to mean something like "consistent with our beliefs about what we observe" or even "consistent with the truth about what we observe."

Accepted Answer

Hawley explains that the term "metaphysically relevant" refers to considerations that are significant for understanding the fundamental nature of reality, rather than merely being consistent with our observations or beliefs about what we observe.

Question 10

Hawley says that "Scientific skepticism, as I shall understand it here, is the view that there are cases where the involvement of a claim about an unobservable entity in an empirically successful scientific theory provides reason to think that the claim is true."

Accepted Answer

The answer of Hawley says that "Scientific skepticism, as I...

Question 11

Hawley asserts that the "anti-realist argument asserts that there are plenty of theories in the history of science which were empirically successful, but which posited the existence of entities in which we no longer believe. The aim is to undermine the realist claim that empirical success is a reliable symptom of theoretical truth."

Accepted Answer

Hawley is stating the argument of the anti-realists, which is that there are theories in science that were successful but posited the existence of entities that we no longer believe in. This undermines the realist claim that empirical success indicates theoretical truth.

Question 12

Hawley calls the attempt to show that the scientific metaphysics is not involved in generating novel prediction, and thus that its appearance in a scientific theory does not give us reason to think it true, Undermining.

Accepted Answer

Hawley believes that the attempt to show that scientific metaphysics is not involved in generating novel predictions undermines the idea that its appearance in a scientific theory is reason to think it true.

Question 13

Hawley calls the position that accepts that the scientific metaphysics is genuinely confirmed by the role it plays in generating empirical success, but claims that independent reasons to believe the traditional metaphysics outweigh this scientific support, Counterargument.

Accepted Answer

Hawley's position is that the traditional metaphysics has independent reasons to be believed that outweigh the scientific support for the scientific metaphysics. This is a counterargument to the position that the scientific metaphysics is confirmed by its ability to generate empirical success.

Question 14

Explain the idea behind the claim that science cannot really contribute to metaphysics, and that scientific findings grossly underdetermine metaphysical claims.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Explain the idea behind the claim that...

Question 15

What is "presentism"?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What is "presentism"?...

Question 16

What does "empirically adequate" mean? Provide some examples.

Accepted Answer

The answer of What does "empirically adequate" mean? Provide some...

Question 17

How does Hawley define "scientific realism"?

Accepted Answer

The answer of How does Hawley define "scientific realism"?...

Question 18

Explain what Hawley means by Undermining and Counterargument.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Explain what Hawley means by Undermining and...

Quiz 3: Plato the Divided Line and the Cave