UD is not a DUD: a novel anti-realist account based on underdetermination

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Master Thesis

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Abstract

In the realism debate in the philosophy of science, anti-realist arguments based on underdetermination were once popular. This popularity has waned, but there is still merit in them. In this thesis the author proposed a novel account of underdetermination, baptized "DONUD", which the author uses to adopt an anti-realist stance based on empiricism. In further discussion the author touches upon various famous arguments in the field, and how DONUD sheds new light on them.

Keywords

philosophy of science, realism, instrumentalism, underdetermination, empiricism, no-miracle argument, abduction, induction, deduction, Bayesianism

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