The Canada-U.S. dispute over softwood lumber imports provides an important case in understanding issues of international bargaining and treaty compliance. Recent events in the dispute suggest that one of the leading theoretical accounts of treaty compliance does not offer an adequate explanation of state behavior. Policy makers should recognize the importance of cross-border ownership and indus...

The notion of literal construal divides anti-realists into two kinds: the kind who say that science aims to be true when construed non-literally; and kind van Fraassen belongs to, who say that while theories should be literally construed, they don’t have to be true. The first kind of anti-realist might claim e.g. that the theory of phlogiston and the modern theory of combustion say the same thi...

Despite the fact that realism has long been the dominant outlook in science, ethical realism has been thought to be especially problematic. Even the most steadfast realists in other fields have questioned the existence of moral truths. It seems that the would be moral realist has his work cut out for him. The first step necessary for any defense of moral realism will be the identification of th...

Scientific realists are committed to the claim that scientific discourse should be interpreted realistically, so that theoretical terms are understood as putatively referring expressions that have putative reference to empirical entities. In order to argue against realistic interpretation, I draw on an episode from the history of chemistry. One of the hypothetical entities of late 18th century ...

Both realists and instrumentalists have found it difficult to understand (much less accept) Carnap’s developed view on theoretical terms, which attempts to stake out a neutral position between realism and instrumentalism. I argue that Carnap’s mature conception of a scientific theory as the conjunction of its Ramsey sentence and Carnap sentence can indeed achieve this neutral position. To see t...

The article deals with expert and media discourses around the second space race between Russia, US other countries. This is relevant today because America’s recent achievements in exploration have intensified discussion of another wave competition among countries Russian Western think tanks. For example, successful launches manned spacecraft Crew Dragon by Elon Musk to International Space Stati...

Abstract Political realists’ rejection of the so-called ‘ethics first’ approach political moralists (mainstream liberals), has raised concerns about their own source normativity. Some realists have responded to such by theorizing a distinctively According this view, politics is seen as an autonomous, independent domain with its evaluative standards. Therefore, it in source, rather than some mor...

An upholder of liberal political values, Kant opposed the tradition realism on several levels, one them anthropological foundations politics. Kant’s position was moderate: like liberals, he believed in evolution freedom; conservatives, underscored difficulties confronting a person that way and dissuaded from taking hasty action. Realists deem these either insurmountable or surmountable to such ...