?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=In+Defense+of+Extreme+(Fallibilistic)+Apriorism&rft.creator=Smith%2C+B.&rft.subject=Epistemology&rft.subject=Metaphysics&rft.description=I+shall+presuppose+as+undefended+background+to+what+follows+a+position+of+scientific+realism%2C+a+doctrine+to+the+effect+(i)+that+the+world+exists+and+(ii)+that+through+the+working+out+of+ever+more+sophisticated+theories+our+scientific+picture+of+reality+will+approximate+ever+more+closely+to+the+world+as+it+really+is.+Against+this+background+consider%2C+now%2C+the+following+question%3A+1.+Do+the+empirical+theories+with+the+help+of+which+we+seek+to+approximate+a+good+or+true+picture+of+reality+rest+on+any+non-empirical+presuppositions%3F+One+can+answer+this+question+with+either+a+'yes'+or+a+'no'.+'No'+is+the+preferred+answer+of+most+contemporary+methodologists+--+Murray+Rothbard+is+one+distinguished+counterexample+to+this+trend+--+who+maintain+that+empirical+theories+are+completely+free+of+non-empirical+('a+priori')+admixtures+and+who+see+science+as+a+matter+of+the+gathering+of+pure+'data'+obtained+through+simple+observation.+From+such+data+scientific+propositions+are+then+supposed+to+be+somehow+capable+of+being+established.&rft.date=1996&rft.type=Journal+(Paginated)&rft.type=PeerReviewed&rft.format=text%2Fhtml&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F302%2F1%2Ffallibilistic.html&rft.identifier=++Smith%2C+B.++(1996)+In+Defense+of+Extreme+(Fallibilistic)+Apriorism.++%5BJournal+(Paginated)%5D+++++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F302%2F