Notes on Psillos Scientific Realism

Kitcher and Psillos: Both committed to not being a wholist about confirmation.

Kitcher (143) not fine grained enough regarding confirmation and/or rest on flawed theories of reference: Consider stationary theories: The parts of those theories that were responsible for success (dating rock layers/ stratigraphy, etc.) did not require lateral stability. The general strategy is to divide theories into idle wheels and working posits. What we learn from the historic record is to beware of the former.

Psillos' strategies: Narrowing the list (novel prediction and maturity). He worries that the working posits might be identified in an ad hoc way.

Divide and conquer