Safe-and-Substantive Perspectivism

David Danks, PhD
Department of Philosophy
Carnegie Mellon University

Abstract: This talk examined the question of perspectivism in science: To what extent are our theories (or models, or…) “perspectival,” or “from a perspective,” or some similar notion? Some of the recent debates about perspectivism have suggested that it is either unsafe (by implying an implausibly strong relativism about scientific theories & knowledge), or else not substantive (by asserting only innocuous banalities about scientific practice). Dr. Danks argued that there are meaningful ways in which scientific theories are inevitably perspectival, and these very same reasons block any slide to strong relativism (unless extreme skepticism about the external world is embraced).

Sponsored by the Center for Philosophy of Science