Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Tables -- Figures -- Preface -- Abbreviations -- PART I Scientific realism today -- CHAPTER 1 Realism and antirealism -- metaphysics and empiricism -- 1.1 THE TROUBLE WITH COMMON SENSE -- 1.2 A CONCEPTUAL TAXONOMY -- 1.3 METAPHYSICS, EMPIRICISM, AND SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE -- 1.4 THE RISE OF STANCE EMPIRICISM -- 1.5 THE FALL OF THE CRITIQUE OF METAPHYSICS -- CHAPTER 2 Selective scepticism: entity realism, structural realism, semirealism -- 2.1 THE ENTITIES ARE NOT ALONE -- 2.2 LESSONS FROM EPISTEMIC STRUCTURALISM -- 2.3 SEMIREALISM (OR: HOW TO BE A SOPHISTICATED REALIST) -- 2.4 OPTIMISTIC AND PESSIMISTIC INDUCTIONS ON PAST SCIENCE -- 2.5 THE MINIMAL INTERPRETATION OF STRUCTURE -- CHAPTER 3 Properties, particulars, and concrete structures -- 3.1 INVENTORY: WHAT REALISTS KNOW -- 3.2 MUTUALLY ENTAILED PARTICULARS AND STRUCTURES -- 3.3 ONTIC STRUCTURALISM: FAREWELL TO OBJECTS? -- 3.4 ONTOLOGICAL THEORY CHANGE -- 3.5 RETURN OF THE MOTLEY PARTICULARS -- PART II Metaphysical foundations -- CHAPTER 4 Causal realism and causal processes -- 4.1 CAUSAL CONNECTIONS AND DE RE NECESSITY -- 4.2 IS CAUSAL REALISM INCOHERENT? -- The contiguity objection -- The regress objection -- The demand for a causal mechanism -- 4.3 A FIRST ANSWER: RELATIONS BETWEEN EVENTS -- 4.4 A BETTER ANSWER: CAUSAL PROCESSES -- 4.5 PROCESSES FOR EMPIRICISTS -- CHAPTER 5 Dispositions, property identity, and laws of nature -- 5.1 THE CAUSAL PROPERTY IDENTITY THESIS -- 5.2 PROPERTY NAMING AND NECESSITY -- 5.3 OBJECTIONS: EPISTEMIC AND METAPHYSICAL -- 5.4 VACUOUS LAWS AND THE ONTOLOGY OF CAUSAL PROPERTIES -- 5.5 CAUSAL LAWS, CETERIS PARIBUS -- CHAPTER 6 Sociability: natural and scientific kinds -- 6.1 LAW STATEMENTS AND THE ROLE OF KINDS -- 6.2 ESSENCES AND CLUSTERS: TWO KINDS OF KINDS.

6.3 CLUSTERS AND BIOLOGICAL SPECIES CONCEPTS -- 6.4 SOCIABILITY (OR: HOW TO MAKE KINDS WITH PROPERTIES) -- 6.5 BEYOND OBJECTIVITY, SUBJECTIVITY, AND PROMISCUITY -- PART III Theory meets world -- CHAPTER 7 Representing and describing: theories and models -- 7.1 DESCRIPTIONS AND NON-LINGUISTIC REPRESENTATIONS -- 7.2 REPRESENTING VIA ABSTRACTION AND IDEALIZATION -- 7.3 EXTRACTING INFORMATION FROM MODELS -- 7.4 THE INESCAPABILITY OF CORRESPONDENCE -- 7.5 APPROXIMATION AND GEOMETRICAL STRUCTURES -- CHAPTER 8 Approximate truths about approximate truth -- 8.1 KNOWLEDGE IN THE ABSENCE OF TRUTH SIMPLICITER -- 8.2 MEASURING ''TRUTH-LIKENESS'' -- 8.3 TRUTH AS A COMPARATOR FOR ART AND SCIENCE -- 8.4 DEPICTION VERSUS DENOTATION -- DESCRIPTION VERSUS REFERENCE -- 8.5 PRODUCTS VERSUS PRODUCTION -- THEORIES AND MODELS VERSUS PRACTICE -- References -- Index.