Under-determined empirical theories by the evidence

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The underdetermination empirical theories by the evidence (Engl. Underdetermination of theories by evidence ) refers to several variants epistemological theses. Accordingly, for any theory that is confirmed by certain empirical observations , there is at least one alternative theory that is also supported by exactly the same empirical data. In other words: often / always the choice between a theory and one or more alternative theory (s) is not determined (“determined”) by certain / any empirical data.

Such underdetermination theses are controversial, just as they are to be precisely formulated and explicated at all . If one accepts the Duhem-Quine thesis or certain other holistic theses, an underdetermination thesis i follows. d. R. simply. Arguments for an under-determination thesis can also support a general epistemological anti- realism. An early and well-known representative of this argumentation strategy is Bas van Fraassen .

Thomas Kuhn tried to explain the history of scientific theory formation in such a way that cases repeatedly occurred in which a decision between alternative theories is excluded insofar as these themselves are accompanied by different interpretations of the evidence base, which could be described as a stronger variant of an underdetermination thesis.

literature

  • Richard Boyd : On the Current Status of Scientific Realism. In: Knowledge 19 (1984), pp. 45-90.
  • Richard Boyd: Underdetermination, and a Causal Theory of Evidence. In: Noûs 7/1 (1973), pp. 1–12 ( PDF; 207 kB ( Memento from July 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive )).
  • Thomas Bonk: Underdetermination. An essay on evidence and the limits of natural knowledge. Springer, Dordrecht 2008. (Lists and takes into account the most important things about older literature.)
  • John Earman : Underdetermination, Realism, and Reason , in: Midwest Studies in Philosophy 18 (1993), pp. 19-38.
  • Bas van Fraassen : The Scientific Image , Clarendon Press, Oxford 1980.

Web links