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    Theory choice is underdetermined by empirical evidence. — Carmelics
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    Theory choice is underdetermined by empirical evidence.

    SkepticismTruth & Knowledge
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.In sciences like physics, hypotheses are not tested in isolation but only as part of whole bodies of theory.
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    • 2.Experiment in physics is dense with sophisticated instrumentation whose employment requires theoretical interpretation.
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    • 3.When there is a conflict between theory and evidence, the fit can be restored in a multiplicity of different ways.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Empirical evidence imposes genuine eliminative constraints: some theories are definitively falsified and cannot be rescued by auxiliary adjustments without absurdity.
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    • 2.Lakatos's methodology of scientific research programmes shows that progressive versus degenerative programmes are empirically distinguishable over time, defeating global underdetermination.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
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    • 1.Inference to the best explanation licenses theory choice on grounds of simplicity, coherence, and consilience that are themselves empirically calibrated virtues, not arbitrary preferences.
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    • 2.Boyd and Putnam argue that the predictive success of mature scientific theories is best explained by their approximate truth, making radical underdetermination epistemically self-undermining.
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    Related

    Boyd and Putnam argue that the predictive success of mature scientific theories ...Empirical evidence imposes genuine eliminative constraints: some theories are de...Experiment in physics is dense with sophisticated instrumentation whose employme...In sciences like physics, hypotheses are not tested in isolation but only as par...
    +5 moreShow less
    Inference to the best explanation licenses theory choice on grounds of simplicit...Lakatos's methodology of scientific research programmes shows that progressive v...Most any statement can be retained by making suitable adjustments elsewhere in t...No statement is immune to revision because of a presumed status as a definition ...When there is a conflict between theory and evidence, the fit can be restored in...

    Similar

    The choice of which theory to believe is underdetermined by the data81%Individual choices are assessed on the basis of decision-theoretic cho...77%Rational choice is defined relative to an optimization problem with gi...75%Scientists must make decisions—such as setting thresholds for statisti...74%

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    SEP: einstein-philscience
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    Theoretical holism and the underdetermination of theory choice by empirical evidence are the central theses in Duhem’s philosophy of science. His argument, in brief, is that at least in sciences like physics, where experiment is dense with sophisticated instrumentation whose employment itself requires theoretical interpretation, hypotheses are not tested in isolation but only as part of whole bodies of theory. It follows that when there is a conflict between theory and evidence, the fit can be r
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    Details

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    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit