unobservables

On that conception (*) would represent an empirical discovery about how to measure electron density, but -- since electrons are "unobservables" -- that's a realist conception not an empiricist one.

Scientific Realism Boyd, Richard 2002

How ironic that, having renounced belief in God because God is not material or observable ... the atheist may be driven to postulate not one but an infinitude of unobservables in the material world itself!

Matt J. Rossano: Are Infinities More Scientific Than God? Matt J. Rossano 2011

I firmly believe that there exist fixed unobservables (propensity toward poor life decisions) amongst a sizeable portion of the poor population that prohibit them from ever having a chance to become self-sufficient.

I Heart Kevin Lang, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

How ironic that, having renounced belief in God because God is not material or observable ... the atheist may be driven to postulate not one but an infinitude of unobservables in the material world itself!

Matt J. Rossano: Are Infinities More Scientific Than God? Matt J. Rossano 2011

Hacking concludes that it would be unreasonable to be an anti-realist about the unobservable grid, and hence we should at least sometimes believe what science tells us about unobservables.

Beyond the Voice arlene ang 2009

(If the distinction between observables and unobservables didn't make sense, the concept of empirical adequacy would be incoherent.)

Beyond the Voice arlene ang 2009

Real knowledge of unobservables is more complicated in modern science than it was in scholasticism.

Chauncey Wright De Groot, Jean 2009

The belief that such mental representations are real is justified in the same sort of way that belief in the reality of electrons, or natural selection, or gravitational fields (or other scientifically sanctioned “unobservables”) is justified: Imagery is known to exist inasmuch as the explanations that rely upon imaginal representations are known to be true.

His Name Was Do Re Mi 2009

Given the realist tendency of his treatment of unobservables, indirect verification is an important part of Wright's conception of the empirical basis of all knowledge.

Chauncey Wright De Groot, Jean 2009

In other words, he shows that there are more reasons to worry about underdetermination concerning inferences to hypotheses about unobservables than to, say, inferences about unobserved observables.

Underdetermination of Scientific Theory Stanford, Kyle 2009