On Evolutionary Naturalism
Contents
Preface
1 Evolutionary Naturalism
The manifest image
The scientific image
Kant's metaphysical dualism
Evolutionary epistemology
2 Evolution and Human Cognition
The Darwinian legacy
Setting the legacy straight
A fallacy of naturalization
Intention and innate dispositions
3 Sensation, Perception, and Observation
Perception as belief acquisition
From perception to observation
Theory-ladenness
Instrumental observation
Observability
4 Theory and Reality
Forms of realism
Conceptual frameworks and external commitments
Scientific realism
The success argument
Constructive empiricism
Structural realism
The failure of representationalism
5 Truth, Language, and Objectivity
What is truth?
Truth and meaning
Non-realism concerning Truth
A naturalized notion of truth
Semantics and ontology
6 Abstraction and Reification
Common sense and externality
What makes an entity abstract?
Abstract objects and abstracted concepts
Why did abstracted concepts evolve?
7 In Defence of Nominalism
Concrete, artificial, and nominal particulars
Universals or particulars
Conceptualism
8 Space, Time, and Space-time
Kant on space and time
The existence of space
The existence of time
Space-time substantivalism
Space-time relationism 279
Space-time as an abstracted concept
Are space and time invented or discovered?
9 Causality and Contrafactuality
The concept
Regularity
Modality
10 Human Evolution and Mathematical Physics
Mathematics and representational knowledge
Mathematics - the language of quantities
Possible worlds, many worlds and multiverses
The Copenhagen interpretation: instrumentalism versus representationalism
11 Conclusion
Bibliography