ABSTRACT

The relation among perspectivism, pluralism, and realism is the topic of Chapter 5 by Collin Rice. Rice is concerned to resolve the challenge presented by multiple conflicting idealized models, which afflicts accounts of the explanatory use of idealized models in science. He appeals to the notion of a “universality class,” a collection of models that display similar patterns of behavior despite being heterogeneous in their physical features, to address how idealized models can provide scientific explanations. He argues that such explanations give rise to scientific understanding in a factive sense. Thus, on the view here presented, one may yet be a realist in the face of the plurality of models in science, since explanations that rely on universality classes do in fact capture true modal information about the world.