ABSTRACT

This chapter contains a very brief introduction to scientific realism, followed by a thought experiment. It is followed by a short discussion and then a series of questions. People can think of scientific realism as the view that there exists a mind-independent world; that the language of the best scientific theories literally represents the structure of the world, and that knowledge of our scientific theories is knowledge about the mind-independent world. This is explained as a thought experiment with a case of vending machine. The questions are intended to get the philosophy students thinking about the problems. They have used these kinds of questions in seminars as the questions set for seminars, so they also think that they can be used to spark conversation and discussion. The chapter also gives a cursory sketch of some of the ways in which philosophers have responded to the thought experiment.