THE REALITY OF THE UNOBSERVABLE IN PHYSICAL THEORY

AN ACCOUNT OF C. S. PEIRCE’S “PFLAGMATIC REALISM

Abstract

Our aim in this paper is to argue that Peirce's conception of the nature of physical theory and the reality of the unobservable cannot be understood apart from the function and role of his third category. The essencial elements here involved are those of generality and continuity which are grounded on the keyconcept of potentiality. Thus, Peirce's Aristotelian-Scholastic realism is the real opponent to the positivist anti-realism regarding the reality of theoretical entities.