Should Christians be Structural Realists?
Abstract
There is much ado in philosophy of science concerning structural realism--a position about scientific theories that purports to be the "best of both worlds" by dodging major bullets on both sides of the realism debate. In this talk, I investigate whether or not Christians have different and/or stronger reasons for adopting such a position. I argue that despite the initial appeal of structural realism, it admits of objections that cannot be surmounted even with the aid of arguments from Christianity. Nevertheless, I suggest that a more nuanced version of structural realism in the vein of Poincaré might yet provide a tantalizing option for a faith-informed ana lysis of what science claims to be and do.
This paper has been withdrawn.