Valeriano Iranzo

University of Valencia | UV · Department of Philosophy

Epidemiological models have played a central role in the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly when urgent decisions were required and available evidence was sparse. They have been used to predict the evolution of the disease and to inform policy-making. In this paper, we address two kinds of epidemiological models widely used in the pandemic, namely, co...

Guest editor's introduction to "Evidence and mechanisms".

El artículo discute las distintas posiciones sobre el tema de la inducción defendidas por Bertrand Russell a lo largo de su obra. En The Problems of Philosophy (1912) consideró que el Principio de Inducción (PI) no puede ser confirmado ni refutado por la experiencia, pero aun así puede servir para justificar la inferencia no-demostrativa. Posterior...

Extrapolation of causal claims from study populations to other populations of interest is a problematic issue. The standard approach in experimental research, which prioritises randomized controlled trials and statistical evidence, is not devoid of difficulties. Granted that, it has been defended that evidence of mechanisms is indispensable for cau...

RESUMEN El Positivismo Lógico a menudo ha sido presentado como una corriente filosófica monolítica obviando las profundas disensiones que hubo en su seno. El presente artículo pretende corregir esta visión. Los dos primeros apartados describen la constitución del movimiento y los elementos supuestamente nucleares de la concepción filosófica positiv...

The first part of this introduction offers an overview of the main positions developed in the philosophical debate about scientific explanation since Hempel’s covering-law model. The second part summarizes and compares the six papers included in the monographic section "Exolanation in Science" published in Teorema, vol. 38, issue 3. .

This is a critical review of the book "Filosofía de la ciencia - Historia y práctica" (Author: Mauricio Suárez), Madrid, Editorial Tecnos, 2019.

La pregunta por el "método científico" suscita dos cuestiones fundamentales. La primera es identificar qué prescripciones, normas, etc. constituyen dicho método, algo que parece razonable averiguar a partir de la propia práctica científica. La segunda cuestión, suponiendo que sea posible aislar un conjunto de principios que caractericen el método c...

This paper deals with inference guided by explanatory considerations –specifically with the prospects for a probabilistic interpretation of it. After pointing out some differences between two sorts of explanatory reasoning – i.e.: abduction and “inference to the best explanation” – in the first section I distinguish two tasks: (a) to discern which...

La discusión sobre el realismo científico (RC), uno de los tópicos centrales de la filosofía de la ciencia, se remonta a finales del siglo XIX y comienzos del siglo XX. Relegada a un plano secundario en las décadas posteriores, dada la reticencia de positivistas y empiristas lógicos a embarcarse en cuestiones ontológicas, en los años ochenta del si...

Bas van Fraassen’s recent endorsement of empiricist structuralism is based on a particular approach to representation. He sharply distinguishes between what makes a scientific model M a successful representation of its target T from what makes M a representation of T and not of some other different target T’. van Fraassen maintains that embedment (...

After explaining Zalabardo's set of objective conditions for inferential knowledge, I will argue that one of those conditions is seriously wanting. A further difficulty for his account will be considered in section III. In order to cope with it, I will suggest some modifications on Zalabardo's proposal while preserving its main insight.

There are different Bayesian measures to calculate the degree of confirmation of a hypothesis H in respect of a particular piece of evidence E. Zalabardo (Analysis 69:630–635, 2009) is a recent attempt to defend the likelihood-ratio measure (LR) against the probability-ratio measure (PR). The main disagreement between LR and PR concerns their sensi...

There are different Bayesian measures to calculate the degree of confirmation of a hypothesis H in respect of a particular piece of evidence E. Zalabardo (Analysis 69:630–635, 2009) is a recent attempt to defend the likelihood-ratio measure (LR) against the probability-ratio measure (PR). The main disagreement between LR and PR concerns their sensi...

English This paper analyzes Thomas Kuhn's position on the epistemological status of the social sciences. His most popular work, The structure of the scientific revolutions, developed the notions of "paradigm" and "revolution" to understand scientific change. It aroused great interest among social scientists, even though it was devised having in min...

Philip Kitcher has developed a sort of inductivist-reliabilist justification for scientific realism. After distinguishing his argument from a well-known abductivist one (the "no-miracles" argument), I will argue that Kitcher's proposal cannot adequately meet the antirealist challenge. Firstly, it begs the question against the antirealists; secondly...

Thomas S. Kuhn ha sido seguramente el filósofo de la ciencia más influyente de los últimos cincuenta años. Los efectos de su texto más famoso, La estructura de las revoluciones científicas, se han dejado notar en multitud de campos, algunos bastante alejados de la filosofía de la ciencia. En las Ciencias Sociales, en particular, encontró un eco not...

There are different Bayesian measures to calculate the degree of confirmation of a hypothesis h in relation to an experimental result e (where degree of confirmation is understood as an increment in probability). Firstly, we try to identify the basic dis-agreement among those measures and, also, in which situations it does matter. We claim that the...

There are different Bayesian measures to calculate the degree of confirmation of a hypothesis h in relation to an experimental result e (where degree of confirmation is understood as an increment in probability). Firstly, we try to identify the basic disagreement among those measures and, also, in which situations it does matter. We claim that the...

Resumen Una cuestión controvertida en la teoría bayesiana de la confirmación es el estatus de las probabilidades iniciales. Aunque la tendencia dominante entre los bayesianos es consi-derar que la única constricción legítima sobre los valores de dichas probabilidades es la consistencia formal con los teoremas de la teoría matemática de la probabili...

El término externismo (externalism) fue utilizado por primera vez por D.W. Armstrong (v. Armstrong, 1973). Para este autor una concepción externista del conocimiento afirma que lo que convierte a una creencia en conocimiento es cierta relación entre el sujeto y el mundo. Desde entonces la distinción externismo/internismo se ha aplicado en diferente...

According to the “no-miracles argument” (NMA), truth is the best explanation of the predictive-instrumental success of scientific theories. A standard objection against NMA is that it is viciously circular. In Scientific Realism: How Science Tracks Truth Stathis Psillos has claimed that the circularity objection can be met when NMA is supplemented...

Bayesianism and Inference to the best explanation (IBE) are two different models of inference. Recently there has been some debate about the possibility of “bayesianizing” IBE. Firstly I explore several alternatives to include explanatory considerations in Bayes’s Theorem. Then I distinguish two different interpretations of prior probabilities: “IB...

A. Aliseda’s “Abductive reasoning. Logical investigations into discovery and explanation” [Synthese Library 330. Dordrecht: Springer (2006; Zbl 1107.03300)] is focused on the logical problem of abduction. My paper, in contrast, deals with the epistemic problems raised by this sort of inference. I analyze the relation between abduction and inference...

El artículo pretende aclarar el papel que corresponde a la perspectiva epistémico del sujeto en el análisis del conocimiento y la justificación. Argumentaré mi propuesta tomando como interlocutor el ¿perspectivismo de la virtud¿ (virtue perspectivism) de Ernesto Sosa. Coincido con este autor en que el fiabilismo no constituye un análisis adecuado d...

De acuerdo con el enfoque naturalista de la epistemología, la investigación debe estar en estrecha conexión con la ciencia. Frente a la aproximación tradicio-nal, apriorística, lo que los autores naturalistas reclaman es una reorientación empírica de la tarea del epistemólogo. Aunque hay diferencias apreciables entre los defensores del naturalismo...

Una forma común de entender el realismo científico (RC) en las últimas décadas ha sido plantearlo como una inferencia explicativa: RC es la mejor explicación del éxito predictivo-instrumental de la ciencia. Algunos de sus partidarios mantienen, además, que es una hipótesis empíricamente contrastable. Intentaré argumentar que, entendido así, RC no e...

The paper analyzes which is the proper role of history of science in philosophy of science. I argue that, traditionally, philosophy of science has focused on the normative dimension of science. Several positions within philosophy of science stem from different perspectives on such dimension. I classify them according to two variables (descriptivism...

According to van Fraassen, constructive empiricism (CE) makes better sense of scientific activity than scientific realism (SR). I discuss a recent episode in bio-medical research -investigations about Helicobacter pylori and its relation to peptic ulcer. CE's expedient to cope with it is a sort of belief substitution. I argue that replacing realist...

Van Fraassen's argument from the "bad lot" challenges realist interpretation of inference to the best explanation (IBE). In this paper I begin by discussing the replies suggested by S. Psillos and P. Lipton. I do not find them convincing. However, I think that van Fraassen's argument is flawed. First of all, it is a non sequitur. Secondly, I think...

Van Fraassen's argument from the "bad lot" challenges realist interpretations of inference to the best explanation (IBE). In this paper I begin by discussing the replies suggested by S. Psillos and P. Lipton. I do not find them convincing. However, I think that van Fraassen's argument is flawed. First of all, it is a non sequitur. Secondly, I think...

Una estrategia recientemente utilizada por los defensores del realismo científico ha sido derivar implicaciones ontológicas del contexto manipulativo-experimental. El artículo pretende comparar y valorar dos enfoques diferentes del argumento de la manipulabilidad –I. Hacking y R. Harré-, cuya idea básica es que, de cara a establecer la existencia d...

El artículo analiza dos enfoques coherentistas de la justificación (K. Lehrer y L. BonJour). Ambas versiones se consideran insatisfactorias. En primer lugar, sobrecargan el aparato introspectivo del sujeto epistémico, lo cual impide dar cuenta de nuestras intuiciones preanalíticas sobre sujetos "limitados" (niños o animales). Por otro lado, no cons...