Must evidence underdetermine theory

The Challenge of the Social and the Pressure of Practice:17--44 (2003)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

According to the underdetermination thesis, all evidence necessarily underdetermines any scientific theory. Thus it is often argued that our agreement on the content of mature scientific theories must be due to social and other factors. Drawing on a long standing tradition of criticism, I shall argue that the underdetermination thesis is little more than speculation based on an impoverished account of induction. A more careful look at accounts of induction does not support an assured underdetermination or the holism usually associated with it. I also urge that the display of observationally equivalent theories is a self-defeating strategy for supporting the underdetermination thesis. The very fact that observational equivalence can be demonstrated by arguments brief enough to be included in a journal article means that we cannot preclude the possibility that the theories are merely variant formulations of the same theory.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,221

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Refusing the devil's bargain: What kind of underdetermination should we take seriously?P. Kyle Stanford - 2001 - Proceedings of the Philosophy of Science Association 2001 (3):S1-.
Epistemic Equivalence and Epistemic Incapacitation.Dana Tulodziecki - 2012 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 63 (2):313-328.
Underdetermination and the problem of identical rivals.P. D. Magnus - 2003 - Philosophy of Science 70 (5):1256-1264.
Underdetermination and the explanation of theory-acceptance: A response to Samir Okasha.Ward E. Jones - 2000 - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 14 (3):299 – 304.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
260 (#70,437)

6 months
51 (#73,544)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

John D. Norton
University of Pittsburgh

Citations of this work

Permissivism, Underdetermination, and Evidence.Elizabeth Jackson & Margaret Greta Turnbull - 2024 - In Clayton Littlejohn & Maria Lasonen-Aarnio (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Evidence. New York: Routledge. pp. 358–370.
State of the field: Transient underdetermination and values in science.Justin Biddle - 2013 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 44 (1):124-133.
Holism and structuralism in U(1) gauge theory.Holger Lyre - 2004 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 35 (4):643-670.

View all 51 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references