Summary
The concept of unified theory is defined in logical and abstract semantic terms, and employed in the analysis of relations between empirical scientific theories. The conceptual framework of the approach applies to binary relations such as the reduction or replacement of one theory by another, and to multiple intertheory relations. Historically, unified theories tend to arise within the contexts of scientific conflicts which they may show susceptible of solution even in the most controversial cases of the logical incompatibility or conceptual incommensurability of competing theories. These conclusions are exemplified by the Planck-Einstein quantum theory of thermal radiation. The analysis shows in which sense it can, and in which it cannot, be said that this theory unifies Wien's law and the Rayleigh-Jeans law of black-body radiation.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akhiezer, N. I. and Glazman, I. M.: 1961,Theory of Linear Operators in Hilbert Spaces, Vol. 1, Ungar, New York.
Babloyantz, A.: 1986,Molecules, Dynamics and Life, Wiley, New York.
Balzer, W., Pearce, D., and Schmidt, H.-J. (eds.): 1984,Reduction in Science, Reidel, Dordrecht.
Bechtel, W. (ed.): 1986,Integrating Scientific Disciplines. Nijhoff, Dordrecht.
Bjorken, J. D. and Drell, S. D.: 1964,Relativistic Quantum Mechanics, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Bjorken, J. D. and Drell, S. D.: 1965,Relativistic Quantum Fields, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Causey, R. L.: 1977,Unity of Science, Reidel, Dordrecht.
Darden, L. and Maull, N.: 1977, ‘Interfield Theories’,Philosophy of Science 44, 43–64.
Ebbinghaus, H.-D., Flum, J. and Thomas, W.: 1984,Mathematical Logic, Springer, Berlin.
Eberle, R. A.: 1971, ‘Replacing one Theory by Another Under Preservation of a Given Feature’,Philosophy of Science 38, 486–501.
Einstein, A.: 1905, ‘Über einen die Erzeugung und Verwandlung des Lichtes betreffenden heuristischen Gesichtspunkt’,Annalen der Physik 17, 132–148.
Einstein, A.: 1906, ‘Zur Theorie der Lichterzeugung und Lichtabsorption’,Annalen der Physik 20, 199–206.
Feyerabend, P.: 1962, ‘Explanation, Reduction, and Empiricism’, in H. Feigl and G. Maxwell (eds.),Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. III, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, pp. 28–97.
Flügge, S.: 1967,Lehrbuch der theoretischen Physik, Band II, Springer, Berlin.
Gabbay, D. and Guenthner, F. (eds.), 1983,Handbook of Philosophical Logic, Vol. 1, Reidel, Dordrecht.
Geiger, G.: 1988a, ‘Synthesis of Theories Through Parametrisation of Laws: I. Basic Concepts’,Erkenntnis 29, 343–355.
Geiger, G: 1988b, ‘Synthesis of Theories Through Parametrisation of Laws: II. Example: Neo-Darwinian Synthetic Theory’,Erkenntnis 29, 357–368.
Geiger, G.: 1990,Evolutionary Instability: Logical and Material Aspects of a Unified Theory of Biosocial Evolution, Springer, Berlin.
Glymour, C.: 1970, ‘On Some Patterns of Reduction’,Philosophy of Science 37, 340–353.
Gopal, E. S. R.: 1974,Statistical Mechanics and Properties of Matter, Ellis Horwood, Chichister.
Haken, H.: 1983,Advanced Synergetics, Springer, Berlin.
Hartkämper, A. and Schmidt, H.-J. (eds.): 1981,Structure and Approximations in Physical Theories, Plenum, New York.
Hempel, C. G.: 1965,Aspects of Scientific Explanation, Free Press, New York.
Hill, E. L.: 1951, ‘Hamilton's Principle and the Conservation Theorems of Mathematical Physics’,Reviews of Modern Physics 23, 253–260.
Hirsch, M. W. and Smale, S.: 1974,Differential Equations, Dynamical Systems and Linear Algebra, Academic Press, New York.
Hull, D. L.: 1988,Science as a Process, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Jammer, M.: 1966,The Conceptual Development of Quantum Mechanics, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Kangro, H.: 1970,Vorgeschichte des Planckschen Strahlungsgesetzes, Steiner, Wiesbaden, English translation (1976),Early History of Planck's Radiation Law, Taylor and Francis, London.
Kelley, J. L.: 1955,General Topology, Van Nostrand, Princeton.
Kuhn, T. S.: 1962,The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Kuhn, T. S.: 1978,Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity 1894–1912, Clarendon, Oxford.
Kuhn, T. S.: 1983, ‘Commensurability, Comparability, Communicability’, in P. D. Asquith and T. Nickles (eds.),PSA 1982, Vol. Two, PSA, East Lansing, pp. 669–688.
Kutschera, F. von: 1972,Wissenschaftstheorie I, Fink, München.
Maull, N.: 1977, ‘Unifying Science Without Reduction’,Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 8, 143–162.
Maynard Smith, J.: 1982,Evolution and the Theory of Games, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Maynard Smith, J.: 1988, ‘Mechanisms of Advance’ (book review),Science 242, 1182–1183.
Nagel, E.: 1961,The Structure of Science, Harcourt, Brace and World, New York.
Nickles, T.: 1973, ‘Two Concepts of Intertheoretic Reduction’,Journal of Philosophy 70, 181–201.
Pearce, D.: 1985,Translation, Reduction and Equivalence: Some Topics in Intertheory Relations, Lang, Frankfurt am Main.
Pearce, D.: 1987,Roads to Commensurability, Reidel, Dordrecht.
Planck, M.: 1920, ‘Die Entstehung und bisherige Entwicklung der Quantentheorie’, Nobel Lecture, 1967 translated and reprinted as ‘Genesis and Present State of Development of the Quantum Theory’, in Nobel Foundation (ed.),Nobel Lectures, Physics, 1901–1921, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 407–420.
Schaffner, K. F.: 1974, ‘The Peripherality of Reductionism in the Development of Molecular Biology’,Journal of the History of Biology 7: 111–139.
Schroeder-Heister, P. and Schaefer, F.: 1989, ‘Reduction, Representation and Commensurability of Theories’,Philosophy of Science 56, 130–157.
Siegel, H.: 1980, ‘Objectivity, Rationality, Incommensurability, and More’,British Journal of the Philosophy of Science 31, 359–375.
Suppe, F. (ed.): 1977,Structure of Scientific Theories (2nd ed.), University of Illinois Press, Urbana.
Thom, R.: 1975,Structural Stability and Morphogenesis, Benjamin-Addison Wesley, New York.
Tonnelat, M. A.: 1966,Einstein's Theory of Unified Fields, Gordon and Breach, New York.
Wimsatt, W. C.: 1974, ‘Complexity and Organization’, in K. F. Schaffner and R. S. Cohen (eds.),Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. XX, Reidel, Dordrecht, pp. 67–86.
Wimsatt, W. C.: 1975, ‘Reductionism, Levels of Organization, and the Mind-Body Problem’, in G. G. Globus, G. Maxwell, and I. Savodnik (eds.),Consciousness and the Brain, Plenum, New York, pp. 205–267.
Wimsatt, W. C.: 1979, ‘Reduction and Reductionism’, in P. D. Asquith and H. E. Kyburg Jr. (eds.),Current Research in Philosophy of Science, PSA, East Lansing, pp. 352–377.
Zeeman, E. C.: 1980, ‘Population Dynamics from Game Theory’, in Z. Nitecki and C. Robinson (eds.),Global Theory of Dynamical Systems, Springer, Berlin, pp. 471–497.
Zeeman, E. C.: 1981, ‘Dynamics of the Evolution of Animal Conflicts’,Journal of theoretical Biology 89, 249–270.
Zeeman, E. C.: 1988, ‘Stability of Dynamical Systems’,Nonlinearity 1, 115–155.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Geiger, G. Intertheory relations from unified theories. Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 22, 263–282 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01801210
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01801210