Why is it rational to believe scientific theories are true?

Abstract

Alan Musgrave is one of the foremost contemporary defenders of scientific realism. He is also one of the leading exponents of Karl Poppers critical rationalist philosophy. In this paper, my main focus will be on Musgraves realism. However, I will emphasize epistemological aspects of realism. This will lead me to address aspects of his critical rationalism as well. Musgrave is both a scientific realist and a commonsense realist. Scientific realism, he says, is a form of realism (1999, p. 132). And realism is committed to the commonsense realist belief that there is a real world outside of us and largely independent of us (1999, p. 132). There is, Musgrave adds, a continuity between common sen..