 The scientific realist may continue this line of thought by arguing that all measures of empirical success in fact are at best indicators of real cognitive progress, measured in terms of truth or truthlikeness. For example, if \(T\) explains \(e\), then it can be shown that \(e\) also confirms \(T\), or increases the probability of \(T\) (Niiniluoto 1999b). A similar reasoning can be employed to give the so-called “ultimate argument” or “no miracle argument”for scientific realism: theoretical realism is the only assumption that does not make the empirical success of science a miracle (Putnam, 1978; Psillos 1999; Niiniluoto 2017; Kuipers 2019; cf. criticism in Laudan 1984b). This means that the best explanation of the empirical progress of science is the hypothesis that science is also progressive on the level of theories.