科學實在論爭辯在臺灣的發展——林正弘的關鍵地位

The Scientific Realism Debate in Taiwan: Cheng-Hung Lin as a Key Person

本文探討林正弘在當代臺灣科學哲學發展中的位置，特別針對科學實在論與對立的科學反實在論的爭辯在臺灣的發展過程，展現林正弘的關鍵角色。本文首先綱要性地勾勒國際科學哲學從邏輯經驗論到孔恩的歷史，繼而簡介1950到1970年代間，殷海光與早期的林正弘如何引入與接受邏輯實證論的科哲觀點。隨後探討林正弘在1980年代的思想轉向，聚焦在他對「理論性概念」的作品來定位他的觀點在科學實在論與反實在論爭辯中的位置。最後探討1970年代後科學實在論爭辯在國際和臺灣的歷史發展，由此林正弘在臺灣科學哲學發展中的關鍵地位因此被展現與證成。

This paper aims to reveal Lin, Cheng-Hung as a key person in the development of the philosophy of science in Taiwan, focusing on the particular issue of the debate between scientific realism and antirealism (in short, the realism debate). I first outline the history from logical positivism to Thomas Kuhn and use the history as a background on which philosophers of science in Taiwan presented their works. The third section traces the history about how Yin, Hai-Guang and Lin, Cheng-Hung introduced the view of logical positivism/empiricism to Taiwan in the 1960s and the 1970s. In the fourth section, I inquire Lin’s turn from logical empiricism to scientific realism after the 1980s, focusing on his works on theoretical concepts/terms and locating him at the axis of the realism debate. The fifth section goes back to the international philosophy of science, providing a concise history of the realism debate after the 1970s. The final section introduces the works and achievements on the realism debate out of the new generations of philosophers of science in Taiwan. The issue whether a theoretical concept/term refers to a real entity or not is the central topic. New generations of philosophers were either trained by Lin or followed Lin’s concern about theoretical concepts/terms in the realism debate. By tracing the history of the realism debate from 1950 to 2022 in Taiwan, Lin’s key role in the development of the philosophy of science in Taiwan is thus revealed and justified.