Structural Realism and the Interpretation of Mathematical Structure

Structural realists typically appeal to the explanatory and predictive success of science to suggest that the mathematical structure of scientific theory, which is continuous across theory change, provides an accurate description of some aspect of the structure of the world. In this paper, I present a challenge to this claim that concerns how the relevant structure in nature is identified and represented in the context of a physical theory. I argue that the structures, on which many structural realists base the historical support for their position, can only be taken to represent “physical structures” in the context of a broader theoretical framework and that this framework is not necessarily preserved through theory change.