Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T08:11:02.809Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Invention and Induction Laudan, Simon and The Logic of Discovery

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Robert McLaughlin
Robert McLaughlin*
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne and Macquarie University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Although on opposite sides of the logic of discovery debate, Laudan and Simon share a thesis of divorce between discovery (invention) and justification (appraisal); but unlike some other authors, they do not base their respective versions of the divorce-thesis on the empirical/logical distinction. Laudan argues that, in contemporary science, invention is irrelevant to appraisal, and that this irrelevance renders epistemically pointless the inventionist program. Simon uses his divorce-thesis to defend his account of invention, which he claims to be non-inductive—so evading the problem of induction. Underlying both authors' positions are inadequate conceptions of inductive inference. Laudan here ignores the role in contemporary science of plausibility arguments, which provide a crucial link between invention and appraisal, and thence an epistemic rationale for inventionism. Simon's account of invention does covertly call upon inductive principles from the context of appraisal, and this is what gives his program epistemic import; otherwise he would be vulnerable to Laudan's “no rationale” critique. The tensions in both authors reveal the falsity of the divorce-thesis, and the essential function of induction in both appraisal and invention of hypotheses.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , June 1982 , pp. 198 - 211
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Braithwaite, R. (1953), Scientific Explanation. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Burian, R. (1980), “Why Philosophers Should Not Despair of Understanding Scientific Discovery” in Nickles, T. (ed.), Scientific Discovery, Logic, and Rationality: 317–336. Dordrecht: Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curd, M. (1980), “The Logic of Discovery: An Analysis of Three Approaches” in Nickles, T. (ed.), Scientific Discovery, Logic, and Rationality: 201–219. Dordrecht: Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Einstein, A. (1959), “Autobiographical Notes” in Schilpp, P. (ed.), Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist: 1–95. New York: Harper.Google Scholar
Feigl, H. (1970), “The ‘Orthodox’ View of Theories: Remarks in Defense as well as Critique” In Defense as well as Critique, M. & Winokur, S. (eds.), Analyses of Theories and Methods of Physics and Psychology (Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. IV): 3–16. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Hanson, N. (1961), “Is There a Logic of Scientific Discovery?”, in Feigl, H. & Maxwell, G. (eds.), Current Issues in the Philosophy of Science: 20–35. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.Google Scholar
Koestler, A. (1964), The Act of Creation. London: Hutchinson.Google Scholar
Kordig, C. (1978), “Discovery and Justification”, Philosophy of Science 45: 110–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laudan, L. (1977), Progress and Its Problems. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Laudan, L. (1980), “Why Was the Logic of Discovery Abandoned?” in Nickles, T. (ed.), Scientific Discovery, Logic, and Rationality: 173–183. Dordrecht: Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLaughlin, R. (1982), “Invention and Appraisal” in McLaughlin, R. (ed.), What? Where? When? Why?: 69–100. Dordrecht: Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nickles, T. (1978), “Scientific Problems and Constraints” in Hacking, I. & Asquith, P. (eds.), PSA 1978, Vol. 1: 134–148. East Lansing, Mich.: Philosophy of Science Association.Google Scholar
Nickles, T. (1980), “Scientific Discovery and the Future of Philosophy of Science” in Nickles, T. (ed.), Scientific Discovery, Logic, and Rationality: 1–59. Dordrecht: Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peirce, C. (1931), Collected Papers. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Popper, K. (1959), The Logic of Scientific Discovery. London: Hutchinson.Google Scholar
Reichenbach, H. (1938), Experience and Prediction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Salmon, W. (1967), The Foundations of Scientific Inference. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siegel, H. (1980), “Justification, Discovery and the Naturalizing of Epistemology”, Philosophy of Science 47: 297–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simon, H. (1966a), “Thinking by Computers”, in Colodny, R. (ed.), Mind and Cosmos: 3–21. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.Google Scholar
Simon, H. (1966b), “Scientific Discovery and the Psychology of Problem Solving” in Colodny, R. (ed.), Mind and Cosmos: 22–40. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.Google Scholar
Simon, H. (1977), “Does Scientific Discovery Have a Logic?” in Simon, H., Models of Discovery: 326–337. Boston: Reidel. Reprinted from Philosophy of Science 40: 471–480.Google Scholar
Watson, J. (1968), The Double Helix. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin.Google Scholar