Third footnote to the post titled “An Island of Stability”

Political realism is a theory of politics and international relations. Theory is then interdependent on facts, in the sense that there is a relation between reality and theory whereby theory is used as an “instrument” for the “apprehension“ of reality, to borrow from Waltz. And of course, facts are used to build our explanation or description of reality. Theories are then tested by whether the theory is confirmed by certain cases, or whether certain cases falsify the theory. We can also test a theory by determining whether certain behaviors or outcomes are found through the “contemplation” of the theory. A theory gains credibility when the behaviors and outcomes are observed in “realms” which extend outside of the focus of the theory. We infer hypotheses from a theory, and then we subject the hypotheses to tests. In other words, we either confirm or falsify the hypotheses. Also, given that there are a range of theories to explain reality, each theory “covers some matters and leaves other matters aside.” In short: “A theory becomes plausible if many hypotheses inferred from it are successfully subjected to tests.”