The Proceedings of the Twenty-First World Congress of Philosophy

Volume 12, 2007

Philosophical Trends in the XXth Century

Science and Ontology

Many philosophers (such as, for instance, Nancy Cartwright, Brian Ellis, and Hartry Field) regard scientific practice as the final arbiter in ontology. In this short paper, I argue that the very philosophers who profess to derive their ontological commitments from scientific practice impose certain views on the theories established by that practice that the practice itself does not support. This is not consistent with their view that science tells us what there is.