DOCSLIB.ORG

Underdetermination and the Claims of Science

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Underdetermination and the Claims of Science University at Albany, State University of New York Scholars Archive Philosophy Faculty Scholarship Philosophy 3-2003 Underdetermination and the Claims of Science P.D. Magnus University at Albany, State University of New York, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/cas_philosophy_scholar Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Magnus, P.D. (2003) Underdetermination and the Claims of Science. PhD Thesis in Philosophy. University of California, San Diego This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Philosophy at Scholars Archive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Philosophy Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Scholars Archive. For more information, please contact [email protected]. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Underdetermination and the Claims of Science A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy by P.D. Magnus Committee in charge: Professor Paul M. Churchland Professor Donald Rutherford Professor Nancy Cartwright Professor Naomi Oreskes Professor Martin Sereno 2003 I completed my dissertation after digital technology had overtaken word pro- cessing, but before it overtook the submission and archiving of dissertations. I prepared it in LATEX, processed it as a PDF, printed it on cotton paper, and submitted it in duplicate to the Office of Graduate Studies and Research. OGSR sent both copies to the library, and one copy was forwarded to University Mi- crofilms, Inc. UMI photographed the pages so as to make a copy on microfilm, scanned the microfilm, and made the scans available as a PDF. It is a grainy, uneven scan. It is not searchable. UMI charges money for it, unless you request it from the UCSD network. It is the 21st century, and we can do better. Here is the original PDF: The fonts are fonts, and they render as vectors. The contents are fully searchable. This is available free, and you are welcome to distribute it intact for noncommercial purposes. There are, no doubt, errors in the text. There are certainly things I would do differently if I were writing it fresh. With the exception of the signature page, however, this is the dissertation exactly as I defended it in March 2003. (Committee members signed the actual physical copy, and so the signature page here has empty lines.) The bibliography contains entries for two forthcoming papers. They have since appeared; here are the full citations: ‘Underdetermination and the Problem of Identical Rivals.’ Philosophy of Science, 70(5): 1256-1264. December 2003. ‘Success, truth, and the Galilean Strategy.’ British Journal for the Phi- losophy of Science, 54(3): 465-474. September 2003. P.D. Magnus Albany, New York Summer 2006 Copyright P.D. Magnus, 2003 All rights reserved. The dissertation of P.D. Magnus is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on micro- film: Chair University of California, San Diego 2003 iii For Cristyn. Words are insufficient on this matter, so I’ll let a smile and a nod passed between us suffice. iv “Whenever you read a good book, it’s like the author is right there, in the room talking to you, which is why I don’t like to read good books.” —Jack Handy v TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page . iii Table of Contents . vi List of Figures . viii Preface . ix Acknowledgements . xi Vita, Publications, and Fields of Study . xiii Abstract . xiv I Framing the Problem . 1 1.1 A working definition . 3 1.2 Variations in the set of rivals . 5 1.2.1 Live options . 6 1.2.2 Exhaustive choices . 7 1.2.3 Exclusive choices: the problem of identical rivals . 8 1.3 Variations in scope . 18 1.3.1 Variations in possibility . 20 1.3.2 Variations in time . 22 1.3.3 Maximal scope: agnosticism and fideism . 24 1.3.4 Very narrow scope . 31 1.4 Variations in standards . 32 1.5 Top-down and Bottom-up arguments . 34 1.6 Three asides . 35 1.6.1 Aside: underdetermination and ontology . 35 1.6.2 Aside: the role of decision and choice . 36 1.6.3 Aside: the units of epistemology . 37 II Aspirations of Certainty . 39 2.1 Cartesian underdetermination . 40 2.2 From scepticism to quietism . 45 2.3 Thomas Reid’s appeal to Common Sense . 51 2.3.1 Madness . 52 2.3.2 Cognitive commitment . 54 2.4 Three further replies to the sceptic . 55 2.4.1 Impotence . 57 2.4.2 Practice . 58 2.4.3 Cognitive commitment— a variant . 59 vi 2.5 Standards and Common Sense . 61 2.5.1 Certainty . 62 2.5.2 Trust . 63 III Top-Down Arguments . 68 3.1 From underdetermination to empiricism . 69 3.1.1 Constructive empiricism . 70 3.1.2 Cognitive commitment and the Galilean Strategy . 72 3.1.3 Practice: Does acceptance collapse into belief? . 82 3.2 The road from empirical equivalence . 87 3.2.1 Cheap proofs . 89 3.2.2 Characterizing the empirical . 91 3.2.3 Verdict . 96 3.3 The road from auxiliaries . 98 3.3.1 The Duhem in the Duhemian Argument . 102 3.3.2 Turning the tables . 104 3.3.3 Total Science . 105 3.3.4 Verdict on auxiliaries . 109 3.4 The road from semantics . 110 3.5 The road from voiding observation . 113 IV Bottom-up Arguments . 118 4.1 The road from geometry . 119 4.1.1 Absolute velocity . 120 4.1.2 Universal forces . 122 4.1.3 Massive reduplication . 130 4.1.4 Clothesline arguments . 145 4.1.5 Verdict . 148 4.2 The road by induction . 149 4.2.1 The old induction . 150 4.2.2 The new induction . 151 4.3 The road to relativism . 155 4.3.1 Phlogiston . 163 4.3.2 Various æthers . 165 4.3.3 Hormones . 174 4.3.4 Verdict . 181 Bibliography . 183 vii LIST OF FIGURES 1.1 Circle Limit IV . 11 1.2 The structure of Circle Limit IV . 12 1.3 Nested scopes by sense of possibility . 20 1.4 Hop and Skip . 29 2.1 The structure of T3 ........................... 43 2.2 The argument from madness . 53 2.3 The argument from practice . 60 3.1 Proving that the Earth is round . 99 3.2 Proving that light does not travel in a straight line . 100 4.1 Infinitely many monkeys . 123 4.2 An expanding rocket . 128 4.3 A shrinking rocket . 129 4.4 Universal forces for monkeys . 130 4.5 S1, small finite space . 132 4.6 S2, mid-size finite space . 132 4.7 Sω, infinite space . 132 4.8 Rings in the cosmic background . 140 4.9 Malament’s clothesline construction . 147 4.10 Scorecard of geometrical examples . 149 4.11 The LH model . 175 4.12 The selectionist model . 178 4.13 The experimental situation . 181 viii Preface It is common to say that underdetermination gives us a reason to rethink science— to curtail its authority in some way. This underdetermination is some- times taken just to be the problem that theories might have empirically equivalent rivals. It is sometimes taken just to be the Duhem-Quine problem that theories re- quire auxiliary hypotheses in order to issue in testable predictions. It is sometimes taken just to be the problem of induction (either Hume’s or Goodman’s). And so one might suspect that ‘underdetermination’ is not one phenomenon at all, but rather a crypto-omnivorous catch-all for phenomena that mitigate the authority of science. The present project lays this worry to rest, I hope, by providing a frame- work within which all these worries can be seen as species of one genus. Within the framework, many familiar worries about underdetermination appear in a new light. Some underdetermination shows nothing interesting about science, and no underdetermination undercuts the authority of science tout court. I began this project with modest expectations, with a fallibilist but non- sceptical conception of science— by which I mean that we might be wrong about any specific claim we make about the world, but that nevertheless scientific knowl- edge is possible. Some of what I say can be taken as motivation for this view; see especially the general epistemic considerations of Ch II. I don’t think we need underdetermination to arrive at this view, however. It suggests itself if we look to the practice and history of science. And so when I say in what follows that under- determination tells us nothing new about science, I mean that it tells us nothing new given that we were already fallibilists. ix One may insist that ‘x knows p’ entails ‘x could not be wrong about p.’ Thus, fallibilism is tantamount to denying that we know anything, and ‘fallibilist but non-sceptical’ is a contradiction. If one did insist on this, then I think under- determination would provide one with great head-aches. Similarly, if one thinks that science provides the unquestionable truth, then underdetermination should give one a sour stomach. And so on. x Acknowledgements The present text is the result of many hours, a great number of them spent in coffee houses in the San Diego area. I have been especially thankful for the Grove (which was offered as an enticing example of the local scene when I visited in 1996), Ken Coffee (where, for some reason, I often end up calculating probabilities), Lestat’s Coffee House (open 24 hours), Muir Woods (just across from the office), Peet’s Coffee and Tea (a convenient mid-point in the walk from my apartment to the department), and Wired (a misleadingly named French caf´e nearby).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Values in Science Beyond Underdetermination and Inductive Risk
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by PhilSci Archive Values in Science beyond Underdetermination and Inductive Risk Matthew J. Brown Center for Values in Medicine, Science, and Technology The University of Texas at Dallas [email protected] July 12, 2012 Abstract The thesis that the practice and evaluation of science requires social value- judgment, that good science is not value-free or value-neutral but value-laden, has been gaining acceptance among philosophers of science. The main pro- ponents of the value-ladenness of science rely on either arguments from the underdetermination of theory by evidence or arguments from inductive risk. Both arguments share the premise that we should only consider values once the evidence runs out, or where it leaves uncertainty; they adopt a criterion of lexical priority of evidence over values. The motivation behind lexical pri- ority is to avoid reaching conclusions on the basis of wishful thinking rather than good evidence. The problem of wishful thinking is indeed real|it would be an egregious error to adopt beliefs about the world because they comport with how one would prefer the world to be. I will argue, however, that giving lexical priority to evidential considerations over values is a mistake, and unnec- essary for adequately avoiding the problem of wishful thinking. Values have a deeper role to play in science than proponents of the underdetermination and inductive risk arguments have suggested. 1 Introduction This paper is part of the larger project of trying to understand the structure of values in science, i.e., the role of values in the logic of scientific practice.
    [Show full text]
  • Contemporary Issues Concerning Scientific Realism
    The Future of the Scientific Realism Debate: Contemporary Issues Concerning Scientific Realism Author(s): Curtis Forbes Source: Spontaneous Generations: A Journal for the History and Philosophy of Science, Vol. 9, No. 1 (2018) 1-11. Published by: The University of Toronto DOI: 10.4245/sponge.v9i1. EDITORIALOFFICES Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology Room 316 Victoria College, 91 Charles Street West Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1K7 [email protected] Published online at jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/SpontaneousGenerations ISSN 1913 0465 Founded in 2006, Spontaneous Generations is an online academic journal published by graduate students at the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto. There is no subscription or membership fee. Spontaneous Generations provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. The Future of the Scientific Realism Debate: Contemporary Issues Concerning Scientific Realism Curtis Forbes* I. Introduction “Philosophy,” Plato’s Socrates said, “begins in wonder” (Theaetetus, 155d). Two and a half millennia later, Alfred North Whitehead saw fit to add: “And, at the end, when philosophical thought has done its best, the wonder remains” (1938, 168). Nevertheless, we tend to no longer wonder about many questions that would have stumped (if not vexed) the ancients: “Why does water expand when it freezes?” “How can one substance change into another?” “What allows the sun to continue to shine so brightly, day after day, while all other sources of light and warmth exhaust their fuel sources at a rate in proportion to their brilliance?” Whitehead’s addendum to Plato was not wrong, however, in the sense that we derive our answers to such questions from the theories, models, and methods of modern science, not the systems, speculations, and arguments of modern philosophy.
    [Show full text]
  • Reconciling Aesthetic Philosophy and the Cartesian Paradigm Taryn Sweeney IDVSA
    Maine State Library Digital Maine Academic Research and Dissertations Maine State Library Special Collections 2018 Aesthesis Universalis: Reconciling Aesthetic Philosophy and the Cartesian Paradigm Taryn Sweeney IDVSA Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalmaine.com/academic Recommended Citation Sweeney, Taryn, "Aesthesis Universalis: Reconciling Aesthetic Philosophy and the Cartesian Paradigm" (2018). Academic Research and Dissertations. 21. https://digitalmaine.com/academic/21 This Text is brought to you for free and open access by the Maine State Library Special Collections at Digital Maine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Academic Research and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Maine. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AESTHESIS UNIVERSALIS: RECONCILING AESTHETIC PHILOSOPHY AND THE CARTESIAN PARADIGM Taryn M Sweeney Submitted to the faculty of The Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy November, 2018 ii Accepted by the faculty of the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts in partial fulfillment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. COMMITTEE MEMBERS Committee Chair: Don Wehrs, Ph.D. Hargis Professor of English Literature Auburn University, Auburn Committee Member: Merle Williams, Ph.D. Personal Professor of English University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg Committee Member: Kathe Hicks Albrecht, Ph.D. Independent Studies Director Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, Portland iii © 2018 Taryn M Sweeney ALL RIGHTS RESERVED iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe a profound gratitude to my advisor, Don Wehrs, for his tremendous patience, sympathy, and acceptance of my completely un-academic self as I approached this most ambitious and academic of undertakings.
    [Show full text]
  • Dissertation Abstract
    SCIENTIFIC ANOMALY AND BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF LOW-DOSE CHEMICALS: ELUCIDATING NORMATIVE ETHICS AND SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Notre Dame in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Kevin Christopher Elliott, B.S., M.A. _________________________________ Kristin S. Shrader-Frechette, Director Graduate Program in History and Philosophy of Science Notre Dame, Indiana April 2004 © Copyright by Kevin C. Elliott 2004 All rights reserved SCIENTIFIC ANOMALY AND BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF LOW-DOSE CHEMICALS: ELUCIDATING NORMATIVE ETHICS AND SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY Abstract by Kevin Christopher Elliott The notion of “anomaly” has persisted for over 2,000 years, but its precise meaning and significance remains unclear. This dissertation analyzes the importance of scientific anomaly both for the philosophy of science and for ethical decision-making that draws on scientific information. In the philosophy of science, it develops a novel account of anomaly. It first provides a conceptual framework for describing anomalies and critically evaluates previous descriptions by Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, Imre Lakatos, Larry Laudan, and Lindley Darden. Using the anomalous contemporary biological phenomenon known as “chemical hormesis” (i.e., beneficial effects from low doses of toxins) as a case study, the dissertation argues for a novel account that emphasizes three features of anomaly. Namely, researchers “characterize” anomalies in multiple ways, scientists use multiple strategies to “confirm” them, and anomalies interact with novel hypotheses in an ongoing, dialectical fashion. The dissertation argues that this account is significant because it facilitates increased understanding of scientific discovery and of the role that value judgments play in science.
    [Show full text]
  • Theory Choice, Theory Change, and Inductive Truth-Conduciveness
    Theory Choice, Theory Change, and Inductive Truth-Conduciveness Konstantin Genin Kevin T. Kelly Carnegie Mellon University [email protected] [email protected] Konstantin Genin (CMU) May 21, 2015 1 This talk is about ... (1) the synchronic norms of theory choice, (2) the diachronic norms of theory change, and the justification of (1-2) by reliability, or truth-conduciveness. Konstantin Genin (CMU) May 21, 2015 2 This talk is about ... (1) the synchronic norms of theory choice, (2) the diachronic norms of theory change, and (3) the justification of (1-2) by reliability, or truth-conduciveness. Konstantin Genin (CMU) May 21, 2015 3 This talk is about ... (1) the synchronic norms of theory choice, (2) the diachronic norms of theory change, and (3) the justification of (1-2) by reliability, or truth-conduciveness. Konstantin Genin (CMU) May 21, 2015 4 The Norms of Theory Choice Synchronic norms of theory choice restrict the theories one can choose in light of given, empirical information. Konstantin Genin (CMU) May 21, 2015 5 The Norms of Theory Choice: Simplicity Figure: William of Ockham, 1287-1347 All things being equal, prefer simpler theories. Konstantin Genin (CMU) May 21, 2015 6 The Norms of Theory Choice: Falsifiability Figure: Sir Karl Popper, 1902-1994 All things being equal, prefer more falsifiable theories. Konstantin Genin (CMU) May 21, 2015 7 The Norms of Theory Choice: Reliable? Is the simpler / more falsifiable theory more plausible? Yes! Can prior probabilities encode that preference? Yes! Konstantin Genin (CMU) May 21, 2015
    [Show full text]
  • Virtue of Feminist Rationality
    The Virtue of Feminist Rationality Continuum Studies in Philosophy Series Editor: James Fieser, University of Tennessee at Martin, USA Continuum Studies in Philosophy is a major monograph series from Continuum. The series features first-class scholarly research monographs across the whole field of philo- sophy. Each work makes a major contribution to the field of philosophical research. Aesthetic in Kant, James Kirwan Analytic Philosophy: The History of an Illusion, Aaron Preston Aquinas and the Ship of Theseus, Christopher Brown Augustine and Roman Virtue, Brian Harding The Challenge of Relativism, Patrick Phillips Demands of Taste in Kant’s Aesthetics, Brent Kalar Descartes and the Metaphysics of Human Nature, Justin Skirry Descartes’ Theory of Ideas, David Clemenson Dialectic of Romanticism, Peter Murphy and David Roberts Duns Scotus and the Problem of Universals, Todd Bates Hegel’s Philosophy of Language, Jim Vernon Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, David James Hegel’s Theory of Recognition, Sybol S.C. Anderson The History of Intentionality, Ryan Hickerson Kantian Deeds, Henrik Jøker Bjerre Kierkegaard, Metaphysics and Political Theory, Alison Assiter Kierkegaard’s Analysis of Radical Evil, David A. Roberts Leibniz Re-interpreted, Lloyd Strickland Metaphysics and the End of Philosophy, HO Mounce Nietzsche and the Greeks, Dale Wilkerson Origins of Analytic Philosophy, Delbert Reed Philosophy of Miracles, David Corner Platonism, Music and the Listener’s Share, Christopher Norris Popper’s Theory of Science, Carlos Garcia Postanalytic and Metacontinental, edited by James Williams, Jack Reynolds, James Chase and Ed Mares Rationality and Feminist Philosophy, Deborah K. Heikes Re-thinking the Cogito, Christopher Norris Role of God in Spinoza’s Metaphysics, Sherry Deveaux Rousseau and Radical Democracy, Kevin Inston Rousseau and the Ethics of Virtue, James Delaney Rousseau’s Theory of Freedom, Matthew Simpson Spinoza and the Stoics, Firmin DeBrabander Spinoza’s Radical Cartesian Mind, Tammy Nyden-Bullock St.
    [Show full text]
  • Is Structural Underdetermination Possible?
    In: Synthese , special issue “Theoretical Frameworks and Empirical Underdetermination”. Submitted November 2008, revised March 4, 2009. Is Structural Underdetermination Possible? Holger Lyre 1 Abstract Structural realism is sometimes said to undermine the theory underdetermination (TUD) argument against realism, since, in usual TUD scenarios, the supposed underdetermination concerns the object-like theoretical content but not the structural content. The paper explores the possibility of structural TUD by considering some special cases from modern physics, but also questions the validity of the TUD argument itself. The upshot is that cases of structural TUD cannot be excluded, but that TUD is perhaps not such a terribly serious anti-realistic argument. 1. The Thesis of Theory Underdetermination and its Neighbours For some the thesis of theory underdetermination (TUD) belongs to the common wisdom of philosophy of science: TUD: For any theory T and any body of observation O there exists another theory T*, such that T and T* are empirically equivalent, but ontologically different. The central intuition behind TUD is that since theory exceeds observation it is more than plausible to assume that there always exit many, if not infinitely many, rivals to any given theory that satisfy the corresponding body of empirical evidence. The TUD thesis can in particular be found in Quine (1975): „If all observable events can be accounted for in one comprehensive scientific theory – one system of the world... – then we may expect that they can all be accounted for equally in another, conflicting system of the world. We may expect this because of how scientists work. For they do not resist with mere inductive generalizations of their observations: mere extrapolations to observable events from similar observed events.
    [Show full text]
  • FAKHRI-THESIS.Pdf (304.2Kb)
    An Underdetermination Argument against Underdetermination by Omar Fakhri, B.A. A Thesis In PHILOSOPHY Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS Approved Dustin Tucker Chair of Committee Jonathan Dorsey Peggy Gordon Miller Dean of the Graduate School May, 2012 Copyright 2012, Omar Fakhri Texas Tech University, Omar Fakhri, May 2012 ACKNOWELDGEMENTS I would like to thank Professor Dustin Tucker and Professor Jonathan Dorsey. Without their constant help and comments, this thesis would have not been manageable. I owe a great deal to Professor Tucker for helpful tips on writing style. He spent hours working on clarifying the text, without which my thesis would be substantially less clear. I would also like to thank Dr. Mark Webb, the Chair of the philosophy department, and Dr. Daniel Nathan, for allowing me to stay for an extra year and work on this thesis. Of course, any error in this thesis is my fault and my fault alone. ii Texas Tech University, Omar Fakhri, May 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWELDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................. ii ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... iv I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 1 II. TWO EXAMPLES OF UNDERDETERMINATION ARGUMENTS .....................................
    [Show full text]
  • Pyrrhonism and Cartesianism – Episode: External World and Aliens
    Philosophy department, CEU Budapest, Hungary Table of Contents Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... 1 Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... Pyrrhonism and 2 List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................................. 3 IntroductionCartesianism: ................................................................................................................................ external 4 1.Methodological and practical skepticism: theory and a way of life ........................................ 6 2.Hypothetical doubt,world practical concerns and and the existence aliens of the external world .................. 13 2.1. An explanation for Pyrrhonists not questioning the existence of the external world .... 18 In partial2.2. An analysisfulfillment of whether ofPyrrhonists the requirements could expand the scope for of theirthe skepticism to include the external world .................................................................................................... 21 3.Pyrrhonism, Cartesianism and degreesome epistemologically of Masters interesting of Artsquestions ..................... 27 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ by Tamara Rendulic 37 References ...............................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Defending Underdetermination Or Why the Historical Perspective Makes a Difference
    Defending Underdetermination or Why the Historical Perspective Makes a Difference Wolfgang Pietsch, Chair for Philosophy of Science, Technische Universität München, Germany ([email protected]) Abstract: The old antagonism between the Quinean and the Duhemian view on underdetermination is reexamined. In this respect, two theses will be defended. First, it is argued that the main differences between Quine‘s and Duhem‘s versions of underdetermination derive from a different attitude towards the history of science. While Quine considered underdetermination from an ahistorical, a logical point of view, Duhem approached it as a distinguished historian of physics. On this basis, a logical and a historical version of the underdetermination thesis can be distinguished. The second thesis of the article is that the main objections against underdetermination are fatal only to the logical rendering. Taken together, the two theses constitute a defence of underdetermination. 1. Introduction It is revealing to compare W.V.O. Quine‘s ―Two dogmas of empiricism‖, the locus classicus for his underdetermination thesis, with the relevant passages about underdetermination in Pierre Duhem‘s ―The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory‖. While Duhem‘s book is filled with examples from the history of physics, in Quine‘s text historical references are almost completely lacking. While Duhem, the acclaimed historian of physics, was practising philosophy of science from a genuinely historical perspective, Quine approached underdetermination from an ahistorical, a logical point of view. In Section Two, it will be argued that the respective attitudes towards the history of science lie at the origin of the most important differences between these two main versions of the underdetermination thesis.
    [Show full text]
  • Two Varieties of Skepticism
    1 2 3 4 Two Varieties of Skepticism 5 6 James Conant 7 8 This paper distinguishes two varieties of skepticism and the varieties of 9 philosophical response those skepticisms have engendered. The aim of 10 the exercise is to furnish a perspicuous overview of some of the dialec- 11 tical relations that obtain across some of the range of problems that phi- 12 losophers have called (and continue to call) “skeptical”. I will argue that 13 such an overview affords a number of forms of philosophical insight.1 14 15 16 I. Cartesian and Kantian Varieties of Skepticism – A First Pass 17 at the Distinction 18 19 I will call the two varieties of skepticism in question Cartesian skepticism 20 and Kantian skepticism respectively.2 (These labels are admittedly conten- 21 tious.3 Nothing of substance hangs on my employing these rather than 22 23 1 The taxonomy is meant to serve as a descriptive tool for distinguishing various 24 sorts of philosophical standpoint. It is constructed in as philosophically neutral a 25 fashion as possible. The distinctions presented below upon which it rests are 26 ones that can be deployed by philosophers of very different persuasions regard- 27 less of their collateral philosophical commitments. A philosopher could make use of these distinctions to argue for any of a number of very different conclu- 28 sions. Some of the more specific philosophical claims that I myself express sym- 29 pathy for in the latter part of this part (e.g., regarding how these varieties of 30 skepticism are related to one another) do, however, turn on collateral philo- 31 sophical commitments.
    [Show full text]
  • Evidence for the Deterministic Or the Indeterministic Description? a Critique of the Literature About Classical Dynamical Systems
    Charlotte Werndl Evidence for the deterministic or the indeterministic description? A critique of the literature about classical dynamical systems Article (Accepted version) (Refereed) Original citation: Werndl, Charlotte (2012) Evidence for the deterministic or the indeterministic description? A critique of the literature about classical dynamical systems. Journal for General Philosophy of Science, 43 (2). pp. 295-312. ISSN 0925-4560 DOI: 10.1007/s10838-012-9199-8 © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht This version available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/47859/ Available in LSE Research Online: April 2014 LSE has developed LSE Research Online so that users may access research output of the School. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in LSE Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute the URL (http://eprints.lse.ac.uk) of the LSE Research Online website. This document is the author’s final accepted version of the journal article. There may be differences between this version and the published version. You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite from it. Evidence for the Deterministic or the Indeterministic Description? { A Critique of the Literature about Classical Dynamical Systems Charlotte Werndl, Lecturer, [email protected] Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method London School of Economics Forthcoming in: Journal for General Philosophy of Science Abstract It can be shown that certain kinds of classical deterministic descrip- tions and indeterministic descriptions are observationally equivalent.
    [Show full text]