A principle constrained by empirical facts and theoretical coherence cannot be a pure convention in Poincaré's sense, since genuine conventions are empirically unconstrained definitional choices.

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Reasons For

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Reason for

1.Poincaré's conventions are definitional choices free from empirical constraint, establishing coordinate systems or measurement standards.
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2.Principles constrained by empirical facts gain evidential status that conventions lack by definition.
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3.Theoretical coherence requirements impose rational constraints incompatible with the freedom characteristic of pure conventions.
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Reasons Against

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Reason against

1.Even empirically constrained principles may remain conventional in how they're formulated or adopted within a coherent theory.
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2.Empirical facts and coherence requirements can co-exist with conventional choice if multiple frameworks satisfy both equally well.
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3.Poincaré himself held that geometry remains conventional even when constrained by physical facts through stipulated equivalences.
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Key Terms

Definitional choices(describing what genuine conventions consist of): Decisions about how to define or label something—essentially picking what words or concepts mean.
Empirically unconstrained(characterizing what makes a genuine convention genuine): Not limited or restricted by facts about how the world actually works; free to be defined any way we want regardless of what we observe.
Poincaré(as the scientist whose work is being referenced): Henri Poincaré was a French mathematician and physicist (1854-1912) who discovered that tiny, unmeasurable changes in a system's starting conditions can lead to completely different outcomes—a key insight that helped create chaos theory.
Pure convention (in Poincaré's sense)(the specific type of convention being discussed): According to Poincaré, a choice or definition that we make freely without any constraints from how the world actually is—we could have chosen differently and it would be equally valid.
Theoretical coherence(describing what constrains a principle): When different ideas, theories, or statements fit together logically without contradicting each other.
convention(Used to distinguish mere regularities from convention-governed regularities in the analysis of meaning.): A regularity that obtains because there is something akin to an agreement among a group of people to keep the regularity in place.
empirical facts(epistemology): Information that comes from direct observation or experience in the real world, rather than from pure reasoning or imagination.

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Truth & Knowledge1 linked Philosophy of Language1 linked

Empirical facts and coherence requirements can co-exist with conventional choice...Even empirically constrained principles may remain conventional in how they're f...

Details

Type: claim
Perspectives: 2 (1 for, 1 against)
Edits: 1 edit