Article contents
The Picturability of Micro-Entities
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2022
Abstract
In Patterns of Discovery, [1], and Concept of the Positron, [2], the late N. R. Hanson put forward an intersting and, I believe, essentially sound argument to the effect that, necessarily, micro-entities are “unpicturable.” Hanson's claim is centrally a claim about microreduction, but his use of the term ‘unpicturable’ may be misleading, generating critiques which overplay its implications and its importance. A. M. Paul, in a recent article, [4], has taken Hanson to task in this regard, claiming that the notion of picturability is so cloudy as to render Hanson's whole enterprise unconvincing. In what follows I shall critically discuss Hanson's argument and Paul's analysis and attempt to state a version of it capable of meeting Paul's objections. I will claim that Hanson's use of the term ‘unpicturable’ may be, at worst, infelicitous, and that his thesis concerning micro- or property-reduction remains unaffected by questions concerning what we can or cannot picture.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © 1973 by The Philosophy of Science Association
References
REFERENCES
- 4
- Cited by