Multifarious arguments pro et contra convergent realism are scrutinized. It is
exhibited that to overcome the troubles of convergent realism one has to turn from
classical or ‘metaphysical’ realism to non-classical or ‘internal’ one, grounded on
Kantian epistemology, and to the so-called ‘coherent theory of truth’. Internal realism
has no unassailable problems in grappling with the problem of empirically-equivalent
theoretical descriptions and historical meta-induction problem, but obtains the
quandary of objectivity of scientific knowledge instead. One of the ways out is
proposed by the scientific knowledge growth model elaborated by Rinat Nugayev and
by Peter Galison. Any paradigm is a local viewpoint that springs out of the culture into
which its creator was submerged. However, an encounter of different paradigms leads
to their interaction and intertwinement and, as a result; the crossbred theoretical objects
are carefully constructed. Via their systems, the interpenetration of one paradigm into
the other one takes place. To elucidate the proposed model of the growth of knowledge,
the inter-theoretical context of the Copernican revolution is scrutinized.
Keywords: Almagest, Aristotle, Barnes, Bloor, Carnap, Cartwright, Coherence
theory of truth, Convergent realism, Copernican revolution, Crossbred objects,
Divine astronomy, Entity realism, Feyerabend, Foucault, Galileo, Galison,
Hacking, Hybrid theory, Internal realism, Kantian epistemology, Kepler, Koertge,
Kuhn, Lakatos, Laudan, Mature theory, Maxwell.
