Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T05:36:50.244Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

“What's Wrong with the Received View on the Structure of Scientific Theories?”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

Frederick Suppe
Frederick Suppe*
Affiliation:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Achinstein, Putnam, and others have urged the rejection of the received view on theories (which construes theories as axiomatic calculi where theoretical terms are given partial observational interpretations by correspondence rules) because (i) the notion of partial interpretation cannot be given precise formulation, and (ii) the observational-theoretical distinction cannot be drawn satisfactorily. I try to show that these are the wrong reasons for rejecting the received view since (i) is false and it is virtually impossible to demonstrate the truth of (ii). Nonetheless, the received view should be rejected because it obscures a number of epistemologically important features of scientific theorizing. I show this by sketching an alternative analysis which reveals some of these features and gives a more faithful picture of scientific theorizing.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , March 1972 , pp. 1 - 19
Copyright
Copyright © 1972 by 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

[1] Achinstein, P. Concepts of Science. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1968.Google Scholar
[2] Braithwaite, R. B. Scientific Explanation. New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1953.Google Scholar
[3] Burks, A. Cause, Chance, and Reason. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, forthcoming.Google Scholar
[4] Campbell, N. Foundations of Science. New York: Dover, 1957.Google Scholar
[5] Carnap, R. “Methodological Character of Theoretical Concepts.” Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol. 1. Edited by H. Feigl, et al. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1956, pp. 38–76.Google Scholar
[6] Carnap, R. Philosophical Foundations of Physics. New York: Basic Books, 1966.Google Scholar
[7] Duhem, P. Aim and Structure of Physical Theory. New York: Atheneum, 1954.10.1515/9780691233857CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[8] Hempel, C. “Formulation and Formalization of Scientific Theories.” The Structure of Scientific Theories. Edited by Suppe, F. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1972.Google Scholar
[9] Hempel, C. Fundamentals of Concept Formation in Physical Science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1952.Google Scholar
[10] Hempel, C. “The Theoretician's Dilemma.” Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol. 2. Edited by H. Feigl, et al. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1958, pp. 37–98.Google Scholar
[11] Hesse, M. Forces and Fields. New York: Philosophical Library, 1962.10.1063/1.3058239CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[12] Hesse, M. Models and Analogies in Science. London: Sheed and Ward, 1963.Google Scholar
[13] Kaplan, A. The Conduct of Inquiry. San Francisco: Chandler Publishing Co., 1964.Google Scholar
[14] Kuhn, T. “Second Thoughts on Paradigms.” The Structure of Scientific Theories. Edited by Suppe, F. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1972.Google Scholar
[15] Margenau, H. Nature of Physical Reality. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1950.Google Scholar
[16] Nagel, E. Structure of Science. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1961.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[17] Northrop, F. S. C. Logic of Science and Humanities. New York: MacMillan, 1949.Google Scholar
[18] “Summary-Abstract: ‘Scientific Explanation’, by Hilary Putnam.” Forthcoming in The Structure of Scientific Theories. Edited by Suppe, F. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1972.Google Scholar
[19] Putnam, H. “What Theories Are Not.” Logic, Methodology, and the Philosophy of Science. Edited by Nagel, E., Suppes, P., and Tarski, A. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1962, pp. 240–251.Google Scholar
[20] Quine, W. Methods of Logic. New York: rev. ed., Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1959.Google Scholar
[21] Ramsey, F. Foundations of Mathematics. New York: Humanities Press, 1931.Google Scholar
[22] Reichenbach, H. Rise of Scientific Philosophy. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1962.Google Scholar
[23] Suppe, F. The Meaning and Use of Models in Mathematics and the Exact Sciences. Ph.D. dissertation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1967.Google Scholar
[24] Suppe, F. “On Partial Interpretation.” Journal of Philosophy 68 (1971): 57–76.10.2307/2025168CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[25] Suppe, F. “The Search for Philosophic Understanding of Scientific Theories.” Forthcoming in The Structure of Scientific Theories. Edited by Suppe, F. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1972 (in press).Google Scholar
[26] Suppe, F. “Some Philosophical Problems in Biological Speciation and Taxonomy.” Forthcoming in the proceedings of the First Ottawa Conference on the Conceptual Basis of Classification held at the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, October 1-5, 1971.Google Scholar
[27] Suppe, F. (ed.). The Structure of Scientific Theories. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1972.Google Scholar
[28] Suppes, P. “Models of Data.” Logic, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science. Edited by Nagel, E., et al. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1962, pp. 252–261.Google Scholar
[29] Suppes, P. “What is in Scientific Theory?” Philosophy of Science Today. Edited by Morgenbesser, S. New York: Basic Books, 1967, pp. 55–67.Google Scholar
[30] van Fraassen, B. “On the Extension of Beth's Semantics of Physical Theories.” Philosophy of Science 37 (1970): 325–339.10.1086/288311CrossRefGoogle Scholar