Department of History and Philosophy of Science Eotvos University Budapest, Pazmany P. setany 1/A PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE SEMINAR (http://hps.elte.hu/seminar) ________________________________________________ 3 December4:00 PM 6th floor 6.54 (Language: English) G u n t h e r F l e c k Psychology Service of the Austrian Armed Forces, Vienna Philosophy of Science and Social Studies of Science, University of Vienna Reality Testing and Knowledge Production: A Psychological View of the Realism-Antirealism Controversy There are two basic positions in regard to knowledge about the world and reality which can be traced as far back as the times of the philosophers of ancient Greece. On the one hand, there is the position of those who believe that there exists a way of knowing allowing an objective access to the structures of the world and reality beyond observation. On the other hand, there is the position of those who argue that no such way of ontological knowing exists. The former is known as (scientific) realism, the latter as antirealism. Both positions provide a lot of good reasons for their stance and against the contrary one. From a philosophical point of view the disputation seems to be held on a pure rational level. However, empirical evidence shows that in (scientific) reasoning emotional factors are always involved and that pure rationalism is nothing but a big myth. Starting with a psychological analysis of human reality testing ability as an important adaptation principle in every day life, an attempt is made to identify the implicit emotional factors underlying scientific reasoning and co-determining the preferences for epistemological positions. ___________________ The organizer of the seminar: László E. Szabó -- Laszlo E. Szabo Department of Theoretical Physics Department of History and Philosophy of Science Eotvos University, Budapest H-1518 Budapest, Pf. 32, Hungary Phone/Fax: (36-1)372-2924 Home: (36-1) 200-7318 Mobil/SMS: (36) 20-366-1172 http://hps.elte.hu/~leszabo