Scientific realism in Carlos Astrada

Abstract

The two forms of the realism-antirealism controversy, a central concern of contemporary epistemology, were already present from the early twentieth century onwards. The first controversy concerns the existential problem of entities referred by theoretical terms. The second one concerns the realism of theories, and focuses on science´s goal. In our country, philosopher Carlos Astrada supports realism in both senses. His arguments are more aimed at refuting anti-realistic positions than at adopting a positive stance. In spite of this limitation, some of his systematized ideas can be found in the following two texts: an early piece, “The epistemological problem in current philosophy” -which won Astrada a German study grant in 1927- and in Dialectics and logical positivism, an essay published in 1961.