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It is not the case that Realism regarding the putative target of detection is well-supported when distinct modes of detection reveal the same thing.
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Reasons For
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Reason for 1 of 2
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1.
Distinct detection methods often share theoretical assumptions, so their convergence may reflect common theory rather than a mind-independent target.
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2.
Van Fraassen's constructive empiricism holds that empirical adequacy, not ontological convergence, is the proper epistemic goal of science.
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3.
What appears as independent confirmation can be the coordinated projection of a single theoretical framework onto multiple instruments.
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Reason for 2 of 2
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1.
Laudan's pessimistic meta-induction shows that historically successful convergent detections have repeatedly pointed to entities later abandoned (caloric, phlogiston, the ether).
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2.
If past convergent detection repeatedly failed to track real entities, the inference from convergence to realism is inductively undermined.
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Reasons Against
1 perspective
Reason against
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1.
One and the same thing is apparently revealed by distinct modes of detection.
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2.
It would be an extraordinary coincidence if the supposed target of these revelations did not exist.
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