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What is contrastive underdetermination?

What is contrastive underdetermination?

Contrastive underdetermination is so-called because it questions the ability of the evidence to confirm any given hypothesis against alternatives, and the central focus of discussion in this connection (equally often regarded as “the” problem of underdetermination) concerns the character of the supposed alternatives.

What is the underdetermination of theory by observation?

In the philosophy of science, underdetermination or the underdetermination of theory by data (sometimes abbreviated UTD) is the idea that evidence available to us at a given time may be insufficient to determine what beliefs we should hold in response to it.

What is global underdetermination?

The underdetermination thesis states that any given realm of phenomena can be captured by a variety of empirically equivalent accounts. The claim is, then, that logic and experience alone are insufficient for singling out a privileged account of the phenomena.

What is empirical adequacy?

1.5 Empirical Adequacy Here is a rough-and-ready characterization of what it is for a theory to be empirically adequate: a theory is empirically adequate exactly if what it says about the observable things and events in the world is true—exactly if it ‘saves the phenomena.’ (van Fraassen 1980, 12)

What is Underdetermination argument?

Underdetermination is a thesis explaining that for any scientifically based theory there will always be at least one rival theory that is also supported by the evidence given, and that that theory can also be logically maintained in the face of any new evidence.

What is the duhem problem?

The Duhem–Quine thesis, also called the Duhem–Quine problem, after Pierre Duhem and Willard Van Orman Quine, is that it is impossible to test a scientific hypothesis in isolation, because an empirical test of the hypothesis requires one or more background assumptions (also called auxiliary assumptions or auxiliary …

What is the Duhem hypothesis?

What is the Underdetermination argument against scientific realism?

The argument form the empirical underdetermination of theories against scientific realism is that in principle any body of empirical data, no matter how large, is compatible with an infinite number of possible incompatible theories.

What do empirically mean?

1 : originating in or based on observation or experience empirical data. 2 : relying on experience or observation alone often without due regard for system and theory an empirical basis for the theory. 3 : capable of being verified or disproved by observation or experiment empirical laws.

Are scientists empiricists?

In the philosophy of science, empiricism is a theory of knowledge which emphasizes those aspects of scientific knowledge that are closely related to experience, especially as formed through deliberate experimental arrangements. Hence, science is considered to be methodologically empirical in nature.

What is Underdetermination thesis?

When does underdetermination occur in a scientific theory?

Holist underdetermination (Section 2 below) arises whenever our inability to test hypotheses in isolation leaves us underdetermined in our response to a failed prediction or some other piece of disconfirming evidence.

How did Duhem contribute to the problem of underdetermination?

In The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory, Duhem formulated various problems of scientific underdetermination in an especially perspicuous and compelling way, although he himself argued that these problems posed serious challenges only to our efforts to confirm theories in physics.

Why is the problem of contrastive underdetermination called that?

Contrastive underdetermination is so-called because it questions the ability of the evidence to confirm any given hypothesis against alternatives, and the central focus of discussion in this connection (equally often regarded as “the” problem of underdetermination) concerns the character of the supposed alternatives.

Who is the locus classicus for underdetermination in science?

However, the traditional locus classicus for underdetermination in science is the work of Pierre Duhem, a French physicist as well as historian and philosopher of science who lived at the turn of the 20 th Century.

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