Objectivity, Ambiguity, and Theory Choice.
Kuhn argued that scientific theory choice is, in some sense, a rational matter, but one that is not fully determined by shared objective scientific virtues like accuracy, simplicity, and scope. Okasha imports Arrow's impossibility theorem into the context of theory choice to show that rather than no...
| Published in: | Erkenntnis Vol. 84; no. 2; pp. 343 - 358 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article |
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Springer Nature
Apr2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=135628500&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 135628500 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 01650106 5KZ jtl: Erkenntnis issn: 01650106 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Apr2019 vid: 84 iid: 2 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 135628500 10.1007/s10670-017-9961-8 ppf: 343 ppct: 15 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 479KB tig: atl: Objectivity, Ambiguity, and Theory Choice. aug: au: Marcoci, Alexandru Nguyen, James affil: Department of Government, LSE, London, UK History and Philosophy of Science Program, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, LSE, London, UK su: Objectivity Ambiguity Choice (Psychology) Hypothesis Reason sug: subj: Objectivity Ambiguity Choice (Psychology) Hypothesis Reason ab: Kuhn argued that scientific theory choice is, in some sense, a rational matter, but one that is not fully determined by shared objective scientific virtues like accuracy, simplicity, and scope. Okasha imports Arrow's impossibility theorem into the context of theory choice to show that rather than not fully determining theory choice, these virtues cannot determine it at all. If Okasha is right, then there is no function (satisfying certain desirable conditions) from 'preference' rankings supplied by scientific virtues over competing theories (or models, or hypotheses) to a single all-things-considered ranking. This threatens the rationality of science. In this paper we show that if Kuhn's claims about the role that subjective elements play in theory choice are taken seriously, then the threat dissolves. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Erkenntnis is a copyright of Springer, 2019. All Rights Reserved. item: Erkenntnis holder: Springer Nature dt: @attributes: year: 2019 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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