Structuralism as a resource to detect and solve some current philosophical problems

BLANCO, DANIEL

Philosophy of Science in the 21st Century. Contributions of Metatheoretical Structuralism.

NEL

Año: 2023; p. 137 - 154

I briefly introduce three philosophical cases that can be successfully dealt with using structuralist tools. All of them can be initially addressed using only the rudiments of one (important) chapter from the structuralist manual. Most assuredly, we would need more to get the complete picture and a definitive solution to each one of these problems, but I limit the study to that early phase of analysis, which I think would be enough to carry out my purpose. These three philosophical problems are (1) the acknowledgment of rivalry between theories and within a particular theory; (2) some aspects of what has been called “revolutionary science”; and (3) the search and exclusion of circularity in empirical theories. Almost every case study we are about to consider stems from the evolutionary biology realm, but of course, it could be extended—mutatis mutandis—to many others.