“— It would be possible to do a lengthy dialectical number on this;”

Q1 Arts and Humanities

Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics Pub Date : 2020-08-01 DOI:10.1016/j.shpsb.2019.12.001

Wayne C. Myrvold

引用次数: 3

Abstract

Philosophers have, it seems, been beguiled by contingencies of the evolution of scientific language. These contingencies can obscure the nature of theoretical shifts. Retention of a term can obscure a radical theoretical shift, and abandonment of a term can obscure continuity of theory. In this paper, I consider the cases of caloric and the luminiferous ether, both of which are often taken to be unproblematic cases of theoretical entities abandoned by subsequent theories. I invite the reader to consider what we might now be saying were those terms retained, and argue that this sheds light on the nature of the theoretical shifts involved..

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“——这一点可以用辩证法进行冗长的论证;”

哲学家们似乎被科学语言进化的偶然性所迷惑。这些偶然性可以掩盖理论转变的本质。保留一个术语会掩盖根本的理论转变，放弃一个术语会掩盖理论的连续性。在本文中，我考虑了热醚和发光醚的情况，这两种情况通常被认为是被后续理论抛弃的理论实体的无问题情况。我邀请读者考虑一下，如果保留这些术语，我们现在可能会说些什么，并认为这揭示了所涉及的理论转变的本质。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 物理-科学史与科学哲学

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

13.3 weeks

期刊介绍： Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics is devoted to all aspects of the history and philosophy of modern physics broadly understood, including physical aspects of astronomy, chemistry and other non-biological sciences. The primary focus is on physics from the mid/late-nineteenth century to the present, the period of emergence of the kind of theoretical physics that has come to dominate the exact sciences in the twentieth century. The journal is internationally oriented with contributions from a wide range of perspectives. In addition to purely historical or philosophical papers, the editors particularly encourage papers that combine these two disciplines. The editors are also keen to publish papers of interest to physicists, as well as specialists in history and philosophy of physics.