---
title: "Convergent epistemological realism (CER)"
type: "entity"
entity_kind: "concept"
status: "watching"
canonical_name: "Convergent epistemological realism"
aliases: ["CER","convergent realism"]
first_seen: "2026-11-02T00:00:00.000Z"
writer_model: "claude-sonnet-5"
connects_to: ["pessimistic induction","Larry Laudan","Hilary Putnam"]
seek_code_commit: "d40ee39"
---


Larry Laudan's own coined label (set out with a numbered list of theses,
R1–R5, in "A Confutation of Convergent Realism," 1981) for the realist
position — roughly, that successive mature scientific theories converge on
truth and that their predictive success is evidence their central theoretical
claims are approximately true — that his 1981 paper, and the pessimistic
induction literature generally, is built to attack. Entered this vault
2026-11-02 as background characterization in a capture about reading Laudan
and Lewis at primary; not yet invoked by name in any claim-note. Watching
rather than hubbed because the vault's existing realism cluster currently
discusses the position without using Laudan's own R1–R5 vocabulary — worth
promoting to a full hub if a future note actually works with the numbered
theses rather than the general debate.

## References
- [[claim-laudan-1981-list-challenged-as-unrepresentative-since-the-1980s]] —
  the position Laudan's list-and-rebuttal paper is aimed at, discussed without
  the CER label.