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    Historical theories with mistaken ontologies often succee... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→The worry raised by Laudan's argument can be rephrased in terms of the mistaken ontologies of past theories from later perspectives

    Historical theories with mistaken ontologies often succeeded via working posits that were retained or approximated in successor theories.

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    Reasons For

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    • 1.Phlogiston theory successfully predicted combustion behavior despite false ontology; oxygen theory retained its predictive equations.
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    • 2.Ptolemaic epicycles generated accurate astronomical predictions that Copernican models approximated, showing ontological error ≠ practical failure.
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    • 3.If false ontologies produced instrumentally reliable posits, those posits likely tracked real structural features independent of theoretical labels.
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    Reasons Against

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    • 1.Successor theories often reject predecessor posits entirely (e.g., caloric → kinetic theory); retention is selective, not systematic.
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    • 2.Success may reflect empirical domain limitations rather than ontological proximity; false models work in restricted scopes only.
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    • 3.Distinguishing 'successful working posits' from 'lucky empirical fits' requires independent evidence—the claim risks post-hoc rationalization.
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    Related

    Distinguishing 'successful working posits' from 'lucky empirical fits' requires ...If false ontologies produced instrumentally reliable posits, those posits likely...Phlogiston theory successfully predicted combustion behavior despite false ontol...Ptolemaic epicycles generated accurate astronomical predictions that Copernican ...
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    Success may reflect empirical domain limitations rather than ontological proximi...Successor theories often reject predecessor posits entirely (e.g., caloric → kin...The worry raised by Laudan's argument can be rephrased in terms of the mistaken ...

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