Talk:Model-dependent realism

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Revision as of 12:10, 12 November 2011 by imported>John R. Brews (→‎Terminology: new section)
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 Definition A philosophical position that all we can know about reality consists of networks of world pictures that explain observations by connecting them by rules to concepts defined in models. [d] [e]
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Origin

This article was brought over from Reality and revised. This topic now is introduced there as a sub-topic Reality#Model-dependent realism . John R. Brews 16:40, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Terminology

The terms "world picture" and "physical theory" are state by H/M to be (math+observations), but they don't always stick to this narrow definition. The term "world picture" is generalized to include any mental construct of reality. They also refer to a "model" as the mathematical part of a theory as distinct from the observational part, but they don't stick to this definition and sometimes use "model" as the same thing as "theory" or "world picture". Hence, quotations from this source can be confusing because one never knows which definition is in use except by reading entire pages for context. John R. Brews 17:10, 12 November 2011 (UTC)